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 4
... subjectivity, or narratives of the self's youthful development, are the inheritors of a rich legacy of American writing about personal development that goes back at least as far as The Education of Henry Adams, a work that Jerome ...
... subjectivity, or narratives of the self's youthful development, are the inheritors of a rich legacy of American writing about personal development that goes back at least as far as The Education of Henry Adams, a work that Jerome ...
Page 9
... subjectivity. Thus it might be the case that since structuralism 'the authority of a privileged origin that commands, guarantees, and perpetuates meaning has been removed' (Said 1975: 315), but such a myth of an origin is still a ...
... subjectivity. Thus it might be the case that since structuralism 'the authority of a privileged origin that commands, guarantees, and perpetuates meaning has been removed' (Said 1975: 315), but such a myth of an origin is still a ...
Page 11
... arguments take account of the ways in which the genre has been seized upon by women writers and authors from ethnic minorities for the opportunity it provides to write narratives of subjectivity that are full of Introduction 11.
... arguments take account of the ways in which the genre has been seized upon by women writers and authors from ethnic minorities for the opportunity it provides to write narratives of subjectivity that are full of Introduction 11.
Page 12
Kenneth Millard. provides to write narratives of subjectivity that are full of ethical challenges in the context of the politics of the self in contemporary America. Curnutt turns, not to the kind of depictions of youth included in this ...
Kenneth Millard. provides to write narratives of subjectivity that are full of ethical challenges in the context of the politics of the self in contemporary America. Curnutt turns, not to the kind of depictions of youth included in this ...
Page 13
... subjectivity and socialisation that highlight their own social and political anxieties. That (parasitical) process is necessarily different from the forms of analysis of youth that are provided by cultural studies, and yet it is easy to ...
... subjectivity and socialisation that highlight their own social and political anxieties. That (parasitical) process is necessarily different from the forms of analysis of youth that are provided by cultural studies, and yet it is easy to ...
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