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 |
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Page 17
... dramatise. The importance of the father to this quest is paramount: Drifting down the river toward a goal he can neither ... dramatises particular ideas about cultural value that coming of age is dedicated to discovering. For Bone, the ...
... dramatise. The importance of the father to this quest is paramount: Drifting down the river toward a goal he can neither ... dramatises particular ideas about cultural value that coming of age is dedicated to discovering. For Bone, the ...
Page 22
... dramatises the annihilation of his past: ' “Check it out, you don't have a past, man! It's like being dead without having to die first”' (98). This sloughing away of history prompts Bone to get the tattoo which is expressive of his ...
... dramatises the annihilation of his past: ' “Check it out, you don't have a past, man! It's like being dead without having to die first”' (98). This sloughing away of history prompts Bone to get the tattoo which is expressive of his ...
Page 26
... dramatises various interpretations of 'freedom' and 'home' in relation to coming of age. Bone sends the girl he has saved from abuse back to her mother in Milwaukee; this is a decision fraught with anxieties that problematise the value ...
... dramatises various interpretations of 'freedom' and 'home' in relation to coming of age. Bone sends the girl he has saved from abuse back to her mother in Milwaukee; this is a decision fraught with anxieties that problematise the value ...
Page 29
... dramatises the most urgent and fundamental revision of his subjectivity in the novel. This retreat to the symbolic ... dramatise the pressure of the legacy of slavery; it remains faithful to the mind and idiom of its fifteen-year-old ...
... dramatises the most urgent and fundamental revision of his subjectivity in the novel. This retreat to the symbolic ... dramatise the pressure of the legacy of slavery; it remains faithful to the mind and idiom of its fifteen-year-old ...
Page 31
... dramatises an irreconcilable separation from his origin; it is not suggested that Bone even intends to return to the United States. Bone's alienation is predicated on an experience of racial difference that becomes integral to his ...
... dramatises an irreconcilable separation from his origin; it is not suggested that Bone even intends to return to the United States. Bone's alienation is predicated on an experience of racial difference that becomes integral to his ...
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