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 38
Page 1
... issue of 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 ...
... issue of 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 ...
Page 2
... issue of value: by what interpretive paradigm or methodology might some texts be valued over others? If value is always contingent or relational, then what particular efficacy does genre theory have as a means to evaluate a novel? Susan ...
... issue of value: by what interpretive paradigm or methodology might some texts be valued over others? If value is always contingent or relational, then what particular efficacy does genre theory have as a means to evaluate a novel? Susan ...
Page 3
... those works that can be usefully considered together, to keep it in the family. To some extent these issues are insoluble, or as de Man tersely expressed it 'pointless and unanswerable' (De Man 1979: 919), Introduction 3.
... those works that can be usefully considered together, to keep it in the family. To some extent these issues are insoluble, or as de Man tersely expressed it 'pointless and unanswerable' (De Man 1979: 919), Introduction 3.
Page 5
... issues of genre is to maintain a close critical focus on the dramatisation of that 'innocence' which childhood and adolescence are often believed to exemplify. How is such innocence conceptualised and configured by these novels, what ...
... issues of genre is to maintain a close critical focus on the dramatisation of that 'innocence' which childhood and adolescence are often believed to exemplify. How is such innocence conceptualised and configured by these novels, what ...
Page 6
... issue with. One might argue that Lewis's methodology suffered from a debilitating ahistoricism in its interpretations of texts as portraying a point of origin before which there was little or no significant history, or one might point ...
... issue with. One might argue that Lewis's methodology suffered from a debilitating ahistoricism in its interpretations of texts as portraying a point of origin before which there was little or no significant history, or one might point ...
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 |
Other editions - View all
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