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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Results 1-5 of 46
Page 5
... 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-of-age narrative. One ...
... 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-of-age narrative. One ...
Page 13
... give a particular urgency to representations of subjectivity and socialisation that highlight their own social and political anxieties. That (parasitical) process is necessarily different from the forms of analysis of youth that are ...
... give a particular urgency to representations of subjectivity and socialisation that highlight their own social and political anxieties. That (parasitical) process is necessarily different from the forms of analysis of youth that are ...
Page 16
... gives a strong sense of authenticity to his adolescent perspective, yet it does not disguise a perceptive awareness ... give his adventures an urgent adult dimension that goes to the heart of the structures of his culture. Huck's ...
... gives a strong sense of authenticity to his adolescent perspective, yet it does not disguise a perceptive awareness ... give his adventures an urgent adult dimension that goes to the heart of the structures of his culture. Huck's ...
Page 21
... gives him the chance to abandon his social predicament but also to reject its compromising ethical circumstances: 'There was a lot about right and wrong that my parents hadn't taught me, and now due to my situation I was having to work ...
... gives him the chance to abandon his social predicament but also to reject its compromising ethical circumstances: 'There was a lot about right and wrong that my parents hadn't taught me, and now due to my situation I was having to work ...
Page 22
... give: It's the kind of power as all those superheroes who have secret identities get from being able to change back and ... gives fresh impetus to his new sense of the liberating potential of a different future. Bone's retreat to the ...
... give: It's the kind of power as all those superheroes who have secret identities get from being able to change back and ... gives fresh impetus to his new sense of the liberating potential of a different future. Bone's retreat to the ...
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