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 8
... symbolic confession of the inadequacy we sense but cannot remedy' (Fiedler 1955: 209–10). Fiedler's unhappiness is predicated on a strongly Freudian model of human personal development which, at the beginning of the twenty-first century ...
... symbolic confession of the inadequacy we sense but cannot remedy' (Fiedler 1955: 209–10). Fiedler's unhappiness is predicated on a strongly Freudian model of human personal development which, at the beginning of the twenty-first century ...
Page 21
... symbolic resurrection in which he is presumed dead and yet is re-born into a life of relative freedom and autonomy in which he must make his own moral choices independently of adults. Huck's rebirth is also attenthe symbolic murder of ...
... symbolic resurrection in which he is presumed dead and yet is re-born into a life of relative freedom and autonomy in which he must make his own moral choices independently of adults. Huck's rebirth is also attenthe symbolic murder of ...
Page 28
... symbolic form. Several critics have commented on the importance of the use of caves in Mark Twain's fiction. Harold Beaver, interpreting the symbolic drama of Tom Sawyer's descent into McDougal's Cave, argued that 'This Return-from-the ...
... symbolic form. Several critics have commented on the importance of the use of caves in Mark Twain's fiction. Harold Beaver, interpreting the symbolic drama of Tom Sawyer's descent into McDougal's Cave, argued that 'This Return-from-the ...
Page 29
... symbolic landscape is a further removal from society, but one which brings Bone closer to an understanding of the forms of origin that his coming of age is devoted to recovering. The symbolic nature of this cavernous topography is ...
... symbolic landscape is a further removal from society, but one which brings Bone closer to an understanding of the forms of origin that his coming of age is devoted to recovering. The symbolic nature of this cavernous topography is ...
Page 30
... symbolically. This girl's death is part of the theme of infanticide that is common in the coming-of-age genre: Holden ... symbolic departure is concurrent with his abandonment of the textual conception of childhood innocence that he had ...
... symbolically. This girl's death is part of the theme of infanticide that is common in the coming-of-age genre: Holden ... symbolic departure is concurrent with his abandonment of the textual conception of childhood innocence that he had ...
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