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 56
Page 1
... genre, which is particularly germane to the study of adolescence. Some knowledge of genre theory is invaluable as a guide to how adolescence in the novel might be approached. Recognising an individual work's relation to its proper genre ...
... genre, which is particularly germane to the study of adolescence. Some knowledge of genre theory is invaluable as a guide to how adolescence in the novel might be approached. Recognising an individual work's relation to its proper genre ...
Page 2
... genre, often by subtly transforming our idea of what constitutes the genre in the first place, or by changing our understanding of what is possible or permissible within the genre. In this respect, the works that are termed 'literary ...
... genre, often by subtly transforming our idea of what constitutes the genre in the first place, or by changing our understanding of what is possible or permissible within the genre. In this respect, the works that are termed 'literary ...
Page 3
... genre is apt to be bedevilled by the variant meanings of the word “Bildung” in German' (Hardin 1991: xii). Hardin's impatience with Buckley stems from disagreement over interpretations of the specifically Enlightenment context of ...
... genre is apt to be bedevilled by the variant meanings of the word “Bildung” in German' (Hardin 1991: xii). Hardin's impatience with Buckley stems from disagreement over interpretations of the specifically Enlightenment context of ...
Page 4
... genre the expression 'coming of age' is conventionally used of adolescence: Huck is fourteen, Holden is sixteen. Barbara White, for example, defines her study of what she terms the female 'novel of adolescence' in terms of the ...
... genre the expression 'coming of age' is conventionally used of adolescence: Huck is fourteen, Holden is sixteen. Barbara White, for example, defines her study of what she terms the female 'novel of adolescence' in terms of the ...
Page 5
... genre might be said to give an account of a process that is necessarily incomplete. The specific age of a fictional character is therefore perhaps not the best guide to that teleological process which is the proper focus of the coming ...
... genre might be said to give an account of a process that is necessarily incomplete. The specific age of a fictional character is therefore perhaps not the best guide to that teleological process which is the proper focus of the coming ...
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