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 31
Page 12
... speak, modernity's 'essence', the sign of a world that seeks its meaning in the future rather than in the past. (Moretti 1987: 5) The investment in youth is a key part of the project of modernity, a 'sign' that is chosen by adults to ...
... speak, modernity's 'essence', the sign of a world that seeks its meaning in the future rather than in the past. (Moretti 1987: 5) The investment in youth is a key part of the project of modernity, a 'sign' that is chosen by adults to ...
Page 13
... speaking as moral and political agents, youth becomes an empty category inhabited by the desires, fantasies, and interests of the adult world' (Giroux 1997: 35), and that, as a result, youth becomes 'an identity defined solely by and ...
... speaking as moral and political agents, youth becomes an empty category inhabited by the desires, fantasies, and interests of the adult world' (Giroux 1997: 35), and that, as a result, youth becomes 'an identity defined solely by and ...
Page 19
... speak about it in the account of the formative experiences of his adolescence that he provides here. In this respect, his story is, like that of so many coming-of-age novels, one of returning to a traumatic beginning, and of resolving ...
... speak about it in the account of the formative experiences of his adolescence that he provides here. In this respect, his story is, like that of so many coming-of-age novels, one of returning to a traumatic beginning, and of resolving ...
Page 34
... speak of 'Edgar' in their titles with a dispassionate distance: 'Edgar lay in his bed completely still' (26). This shift occurs at the point where Edgar is recounting events about himself that have been told to him by others: 'So far ...
... speak of 'Edgar' in their titles with a dispassionate distance: 'Edgar lay in his bed completely still' (26). This shift occurs at the point where Edgar is recounting events about himself that have been told to him by others: 'So far ...
Page 35
... speaking or writing. There is something institutional about a manual typewriter, even depersonalised or objective; for example, he depicts himself working on it 'like a courtroom stenographer' (77). The typewriter is cumbersome and ...
... speaking or writing. There is something institutional about a manual typewriter, even depersonalised or objective; for example, he depicts himself working on it 'like a courtroom stenographer' (77). The typewriter is cumbersome and ...
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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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