Coming of Age in Contemporary American FictionEdinburgh University Press, 2007 M04 18 - 200 pages This book explores the ways in which a range of recent American novelists have handled the genre of the 'coming-of-age' novel, or the Bildungsroman. Novels of this genre characteristically dramatise the vicissitudes of growing up and the trials and tribulations of young adulthood, often presented through depictions of immediate family relationships and other social structures. This book considers a variety of different American cultures (in terms of race, class and gender) and a range of contemporary coming-of-age novels, so that aesthetic judgements about the fiction might be made in the context of the social history that fiction represents. A series of questions are asked:* Does the coming-of-age moment in these novels coincide with an interpretation of the 'fall' of America?* What kind of national commentary does it therefore facilitate?* Is the Bildungsroman a quintessentially American genre?* What can it usefully tell us about contemporary American culture? Although the focus is on the conte |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 34
Page 2
... crucial, that genre criticism plays a key role in canon formation both by policing individual categories and by maintaining hierarchical relationships among categories; that it regulates not only which texts we read but also, by ...
... crucial, that genre criticism plays a key role in canon formation both by policing individual categories and by maintaining hierarchical relationships among categories; that it regulates not only which texts we read but also, by ...
Page 18
... crucial stages of his development. The indifference of Bone's parents, and their inability to cope with his occasionally feckless, teenage behaviour, is symptomatic of their own entrapment in a working-class culture that offers little ...
... crucial stages of his development. The indifference of Bone's parents, and their inability to cope with his occasionally feckless, teenage behaviour, is symptomatic of their own entrapment in a working-class culture that offers little ...
Page 21
... crucial decisions without parental guidance is an important aspect of the novel's politics. Although Bone comes from a 'broken home', and despite his drug-use and petty crime, he has a strong moral awareness and a determination to live ...
... crucial decisions without parental guidance is an important aspect of the novel's politics. Although Bone comes from a 'broken home', and despite his drug-use and petty crime, he has a strong moral awareness and a determination to live ...
Page 22
... crucial marker of identity, and this will later acquire a racial dimension. Bone's coming of age is structured in terms of a series of cathartic resurrections; the fire facilitates a rejection of the past, and the tattoo gives fresh ...
... crucial marker of identity, and this will later acquire a racial dimension. Bone's coming of age is structured in terms of a series of cathartic resurrections; the fire facilitates a rejection of the past, and the tattoo gives fresh ...
Page 27
... crucial moment in Bone's coming of age because it brings into direct conflict the two father-figures in ways that reveal sharply the inadequacy of both as role models. Bone's respect for I-Man is severely diminished, and the terms of ...
... crucial moment in Bone's coming of age because it brings into direct conflict the two father-figures in ways that reveal sharply the inadequacy of both as role models. Bone's respect for I-Man is severely diminished, and the terms of ...
Contents
1 | |
15 | |
Growing up in the Sixties | 46 |
Chapter 3 Citation and Resuscitation | 72 |
Life Sentences | 98 |
Chapter 5 Lexicon of Love | 130 |
6 Memoirs and Memorials | 154 |
Conclusion | 181 |
Bibliography | 183 |
Index | 189 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
adolescence adult aesthetic American argued attempt attention authority becomes begins believes Bone Bone’s called challenges chapter characterised characters child childhood circumstances closely coming of age coming-of-age contemporary critical crucial culture death defined depiction desire dramatises Edgar especially example experience expression father feel fiction final Fishboy further genre girls gives growing idea identity important innocence integral interest interpretation issue kind knowledge language linguistic Lisbon Lucille Lucille’s Maisie male means metafiction Mona Mona’s moral mother narrative narrator nature never novel origin parents particular partly past Phillip politics protagonist Prozac Nation Purple question reader reading recognise relationship respect response Ruth scene sense significant simply simultaneously social society speak specific story structure subjectivity suicide symbolic takes tell things understanding United voice women writing young