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
... Growing up in the Sixties Geoffrey Wolff, The Age of Consent Gish Jen, Mona in the Promised Land 3 Citation and Resuscitation Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides Rick Moody, Purple America 4 Language Acquisition: Life Sentences Scott ...
... Growing up in the Sixties Geoffrey Wolff, The Age of Consent Gish Jen, Mona in the Promised Land 3 Citation and Resuscitation Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides Rick Moody, Purple America 4 Language Acquisition: Life Sentences Scott ...
Page 5
... grown corrupt and moribund. This departure to the New World was widely understood in terms of a fresh start for mankind, both economically and spiritually, by which new opportunities would lead to a different future and a dynamic ...
... grown corrupt and moribund. This departure to the New World was widely understood in terms of a fresh start for mankind, both economically and spiritually, by which new opportunities would lead to a different future and a dynamic ...
Page 7
... growing up, something mirrored and perhaps buttressed by our writers, expressing itself in repeated efforts to revert to a lost childhood and a vanished Eden ... It has been said that America is always coming of age; but it might be ...
... growing up, something mirrored and perhaps buttressed by our writers, expressing itself in repeated efforts to revert to a lost childhood and a vanished Eden ... It has been said that America is always coming of age; but it might be ...
Page 8
... growing old tends to remain for them intractable. It is merely one aspect of that compulsive veneration of youth, that fear of all which is not simply strong and beautiful, so important in our total culture. (Fiedler 1955: 193) For ...
... growing old tends to remain for them intractable. It is merely one aspect of that compulsive veneration of youth, that fear of all which is not simply strong and beautiful, so important in our total culture. (Fiedler 1955: 193) For ...
Page 12
... Growing Up in a Harder Country (1999), which argues that 'some fierce constriction has taken place, especially among young Americans, over the past twenty-five years' (Finnegan 1999: xvii). There has been a considerable amount of ...
... Growing Up in a Harder Country (1999), which argues that 'some fierce constriction has taken place, especially among young Americans, over the past twenty-five years' (Finnegan 1999: xvii). There has been a considerable amount 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 |
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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