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
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Page 3
... defines the genre of autobiography as any 'text in which the author declares himself the subject of his own understanding' (De Man 1979: 922). This is an argument that undermines the autobiography's claim to be a work of 'non-fiction ...
... defines the genre of autobiography as any 'text in which the author declares himself the subject of his own understanding' (De Man 1979: 922). This is an argument that undermines the autobiography's claim to be a work of 'non-fiction ...
Page 4
... defines her study of what she terms the female 'novel of adolescence' in terms of the parameters of age; this is a ... defined in terms of the age of the protagonist. Accordingly, I have as a general rule restricted my discussion to ...
... defines her study of what she terms the female 'novel of adolescence' in terms of the parameters of age; this is a ... defined in terms of the age of the protagonist. Accordingly, I have as a general rule restricted my discussion to ...
Page 6
... define a point of origin might be accused of paying insufficient attention to the history that precedes them. Further, Leo Marx argued that the mythology of the American nation as a new beginning for mankind is a version of pastoral ...
... define a point of origin might be accused of paying insufficient attention to the history that precedes them. Further, Leo Marx argued that the mythology of the American nation as a new beginning for mankind is a version of pastoral ...
Page 8
... define an origin, to produce a compelling story of the American empire's beginnings, to construct an account of the birth of the nation. This is part of America's foundation myth. In whatever terms this point is defined it becomes the ...
... define an origin, to produce a compelling story of the American empire's beginnings, to construct an account of the birth of the nation. This is part of America's foundation myth. In whatever terms this point is defined it becomes the ...
Page 9
Kenneth Millard. provenance or genealogy that defines their individual interpretation of 'contemporary'. Further, it might be argued that an interest in origins is as much a product of our early twenty-first-century academic culture as a ...
Kenneth Millard. provenance or genealogy that defines their individual interpretation of 'contemporary'. Further, it might be argued that an interest in origins is as much a product of our early twenty-first-century academic culture as a ...
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 |
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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