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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Page 2
... protagonist ('bildung': formation; 'roman': novel). It is a word that was used retrospectively to characterise a particular kind of narrative that had been identified in Wieland's Agathon, 1767, and Goethe's Wilhelm Meister, 1795, the ...
... protagonist ('bildung': formation; 'roman': novel). It is a word that was used retrospectively to characterise a particular kind of narrative that had been identified in Wieland's Agathon, 1767, and Goethe's Wilhelm Meister, 1795, the ...
Page 3
... protagonist of an autobiography commonly starts out as a novice, encounters and overcomes the challenges of adversity, and ends his or her story as a more mature adult character as a result of their experience. Is the depiction of that ...
... protagonist of an autobiography commonly starts out as a novice, encounters and overcomes the challenges of adversity, and ends his or her story as a more mature adult character as a result of their experience. Is the depiction of that ...
Page 4
... protagonist. Accordingly, I have as a general rule restricted my discussion to fiction with major characters between twelve and nineteen. (White 1985: xii) This is not an arbitrary distinction because twelve to nineteen is a commonly ...
... protagonist. Accordingly, I have as a general rule restricted my discussion to fiction with major characters between twelve and nineteen. (White 1985: xii) This is not an arbitrary distinction because twelve to nineteen is a commonly ...
Page 5
... of nineteenth-century American literature, the quintessentially American protagonist is a version of Adam, caught momentarily in a state of prelapsarian innocence and then expelled forever into the unforgiving world Introduction 5.
... of nineteenth-century American literature, the quintessentially American protagonist is a version of Adam, caught momentarily in a state of prelapsarian innocence and then expelled forever into the unforgiving world Introduction 5.
Page 6
... protagonists of the contemporary American bildungsroman thus participate in their own individual creative interpretation of that original innocence which harks back to the story of the beginning of the nation. This is an invaluable ...
... protagonists of the contemporary American bildungsroman thus participate in their own individual creative interpretation of that original innocence which harks back to the story of the beginning of the nation. This is an invaluable ...
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