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 53
Page 1
... interpretation, and simultaneously, an extended argument about the significance of coming of age to our understanding of contemporary America. Adolescents are important because of the ways in which they are at the forefront of social ...
... interpretation, and simultaneously, an extended argument about the significance of coming of age to our understanding of contemporary America. Adolescents are important because of the ways in which they are at the forefront of social ...
Page 2
... interpret Stendhal's Vie de Henry Brulard, and he describes its protagonist in these terms: 'He must insist on his loneliness as a child, his distance from other boys, his greater sensitivity to suffering, and his awareness of social ...
... interpret Stendhal's Vie de Henry Brulard, and he describes its protagonist in these terms: 'He must insist on his loneliness as a child, his distance from other boys, his greater sensitivity to suffering, and his awareness of social ...
Page 3
... interpretations of the specifically Enlightenment context of 'bildung' and a tendency for critics to use the word ... interpretation of that term, like the conventions of a genre, is endlessly disputed and contested. This is ...
... interpretations of the specifically Enlightenment context of 'bildung' and a tendency for critics to use the word ... interpretation of that term, like the conventions of a genre, is endlessly disputed and contested. This is ...
Page 6
... interpretation of that original innocence which harks back to the story of the beginning of the nation. This is an ... interpretations of texts as portraying a point of origin before which there was little or no significant history, or ...
... interpretation of that original innocence which harks back to the story of the beginning of the nation. This is an ... interpretations of texts as portraying a point of origin before which there was little or no significant history, or ...
Page 7
... interpretations of the meaning of innocence and to its function as part of the national mythology: We may suppose that there ... interpretation of the relationship between innocence and history, and, in a chapter called 'The Dialectic of ...
... interpretations of the meaning of innocence and to its function as part of the national mythology: We may suppose that there ... interpretation of the relationship between innocence and history, and, in a chapter called 'The Dialectic 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