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 40
Page 1
... 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 change, even while ...
... 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 change, even while ...
Page 9
... simultaneously a fabricated story that is often self-consciously recognised as a self-justifying fiction that is a necessary foundation to the constitution of subjectivity. Thus it might be the case that since structuralism 'the ...
... simultaneously a fabricated story that is often self-consciously recognised as a self-justifying fiction that is a necessary foundation to the constitution of subjectivity. Thus it might be the case that since structuralism 'the ...
Page 14
... simultaneously one in which the contemporary participates in the reassessment of that which is most important in the past, and to show the value to the contemporary moment of literary paradigms that are antecedent to it. In these ways ...
... simultaneously one in which the contemporary participates in the reassessment of that which is most important in the past, and to show the value to the contemporary moment of literary paradigms that are antecedent to it. In these ways ...
Page 15
... simultaneously the desire for a relationship with the father dictates the shape of the protagonist's journey. The father, of course, is also The Father, and in both of these novels the search for a literal or corporeal father is to some ...
... simultaneously the desire for a relationship with the father dictates the shape of the protagonist's journey. The father, of course, is also The Father, and in both of these novels the search for a literal or corporeal father is to some ...
Page 16
... simultaneously the subject of a great deal of sophisticated academic criticism. That voice combines statements of the boy's inarticulacy and the necessary limits of his knowledge with a shrewd and discerning perception, especially of ...
... simultaneously the subject of a great deal of sophisticated academic criticism. That voice combines statements of the boy's inarticulacy and the necessary limits of his knowledge with a shrewd and discerning perception, especially 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