Young Adult Fiction: Issues and Trends

109 Pages·2018·48.68 MB·English

by  Sunita Sinha

Young Adult Fiction
Issues and Trends
Edited by
Sunita Sinha
ATLANTIC
PUBLISHERS & DISTRIBUTORS (P) LTD
Preface
Published by
ATLANTIC Don't make every fictional teenager into an action hero. Show
them as they really are-flaws and all. If YA fiction starts to
PUBLISHERS & DISTRIBUTORS (P) LTD challenge young adults to think differently about the world
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to the shaping of a generation.
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Web : www.atlanticbooks.com The Valley Vanguard [Vol. 48, No. 23)
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The young adult (YA) literature genre has been growing
Branch Office in popularity since the 1970s. A bright spot in an otherwise
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fluctuating literature market and an integral part of the lives
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of many teens, YA literature is a powerhouse in the publishing
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community as well as in schools and homes, reaching out to
© 2018 Sunita Sinha for selection and editorial matter; both non-readers and readers alike. According to Salvner, YA
the contributors for individual chapters
literature is not necessarily a mirror to the world, but rather it is
Ali rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
an experience, a form of living. Literature also becomes a way of
stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or utilized in any form or
sharing lives together, to communicate sorrows and joys. Young
by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording
or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright adult literature also provides a voice for the youth, sometimes
owner. Application for such permission should be sceptical, while at other times upbeat.
addressed to the publisher.
Even though today the young adult genre is popular, this
Disclaimer
genre began quietly in 1951 with Holden Caulfield, a memorable
The author and the publisher have taken every effort to the maximum of their crossover character in Catcher in the Rye. Holden was a true
skill, expertise and knowledge to provide correct material in the book. Even
to-life character, one to whom many teens and adults related.
then if some mistakes persist in the content of the book, the publisher does
Ten years later, Robert Lipsyte and S.E. Hinton made their
not take responsibility for the same. The publisher shall have no liability to any
person or entity with respect to any Joss or damage caused, or alleged to have own impacts as authors of young adult literature, with The
been caused directly or indirectly, by the information contained in this book. Contender and The Outsiders, respectively. In the early 1970s,
The publisher has fully tried to follow the copyright law. However, if any work with the emergence of Go Ask Alice, bookstores began to realize
is found to be similar, it is unintentional and the same should not be used as
the potential market for young adult literature and stocked the
defamatory or to file legal suit against the author/publisher.
shelves with more young adult books. Go Ask Alice, a sexually
If the readers find any mistakes we shall be grateful to them for pointing out
those to us so that these can be corrected in the next edition. explicit nove! by an anonymous author, was a controversial
Ail disputes are subject to the jurisdiction of Delhi courts only. glimpse into a young teen's tumultuous life. Following the 1970s,
the focus on realistic fiction changed. By the 1980s and 1990s,
Printed in lndia at Nice Printing Press, A-33/3A, Sitç-lV,
· Industrial Area, Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, U.P. fantasy, horror, and mystery books evolved in the young adult
1
iv Preface
Preface V
genre. In addition, in the late twentieth century, a considerable Andrew Marvell, whose formality often renders the text
shift occurred as authors began to write more books for older inaccessible to students. Next, the novel in verse aims at a merging
teens. In the article, "Ice Cream/1 Scream for YA Books," Don of genres and techniques not found in other forms. While they
Gallo examines the field of young adult literature, comparing sometimes retain some of the straightforward narrative structure
it to ice cream-its various flavours and levels of richness. The found in fictional prose, their form is more often related to novels
article proclaims the profundity of the field and the quality of written in diary entries or letters. Additionally, they also provide
its writers, summarizes historical highlights, defends it against a unique ground for exploring and understanding the teenage
its detractors, and explains the importance of helping students psyche. ln her article "A Fresh Approach to YA Novels", Sherry
make informed choices by talking about books and having them Shanan observes that "the YA novel-in-poems-a non-traditional
available in our classrooms. The author also states his persona! story form-is an apt reflection of adolescence, of a time when
preferences along with his concern about the increasing length youth breaks away from authority and social convention". Just as
of YA books. the teens cannot relate easily to the structure of canonical poetry,
Beyond a typical fiction nove!, YA literature is also found they often feel that they cannot relate to their themes either. The
in the form of verse nove! and the graphie novel structure. The young adult verse nove!, in contrast, deals with themes familiar
young adult novels in verse have sparked a debate over whether to teens in well-known settings: sex, depression, death, drugs,
to actually consider them novels or poetry. Since as a genre it is family troubles, and academic difficulties.
still evolving, the definitions of the verse novel are necessarily A graphie nove! is another example of a type of formatting
elastic. In 2004, Peter Hollindale, writing in the UK journal, within young adult literature. Given the emergent confirmation
Books for Keeps, remarked that verse novels were "a fairly that graphie novels entice young adult readers, Williams and
recent but fast-growing addition to the repertoire of children's Peterson suggest that librarians evaluate their graphie novel
literature". Though he wondered whether the form was to be "a materials and continue to support the growing structure.
passing fashion", he suggested that it also represented a major Another popular type of literature that is quite similar to the
step forward in the genres of children's literature, a way of graphie novel is manga. Manga is a Japanese graphie novel or
bringing verse back into mainstream storytelling for older readers, comic book. The interest factor and sales quotient of the manga
opening up a new kind of realism and a new immediacy, as well genre is growing considerably. Manga requires a multimodal
as marking out some èommon ground where poetry, fiction and set of skills from the reader and offers cultural variety within
drama can meet. · a curriculum because of plotlines that teens identify with, such
I would like to focus on a few essential characteristics that as self and sexual identity. It is but natural therefore that the
the YA novels in verse embody. Firstly, critics agree, young adult librarians and teachers are amassing this varied and visually
verse novels offer an alternative form of poetry to students. stimulating format within young adult literature.
Ed Sullivan, in his column for the School Library Journal, Multi-platform books are also gaining popularity in YA
comments, "Novels in verse can be an appealing, accessible literature. Other than just a printed page, publishers are
introduction for students turned off by poetry or reluctant to promoting eBooks, a link to the Internet, a message board,
read it. The verse authors write for these books is not like what or a videogame that corresponds to the book's characters and
most students are forced to study in class-it does not require plotline. Digitally active teen readers are today more interested
analysis and explication". While the verse novel may have roots in multi-media platforms which provide more avenues of creative
in traditional epic poetry, works like Ellen Hopkins' Crank are involvement in a story.
a far cry from the metaphysical poets like John Donne and
vi Preface vii
Preface
Various types of genres are available in young adult In her scholarly essay, "ln pursuit of Young Adult Fiction",
literature-realistic fiction, teen romance, dystopian society, and Reena Mitra offers an analytical overview of young adult fiction.
mixed genres novels. Begun in the 1970s, the realistic fiction Mitra avers, "YA fiction bas devotedly engaged itself in addressing
genre relates to the issues of modern teens presenting stories the issues and problems of adolescents with a sincerity and
about real and flawed teenaged characters. Teen romance and reverberation that readers, young adults as well as adults, have
sexuality are permanent fixtures within the YA genre too as not been able to spurn and pass over."
it is a realistic topic-one that pertains to teen in the present
"Spatial Identity and Postfeminist Girlhood in Indian Young
day. Dystopian fiction focusing on dystopian societies had been
Adult Chick Lit" by Anto Thomas Chakramakkil focuses on
introduced by H.G. Wells and Ray Bradbury who presented grim
young ad~lt l!teratur~ in ln~ia and of!ers. a ~rilli~nt analysis of
worlds depicting society's turmoil and eventual downfall. As for
Iodian ch1ck lrt, especially, V1bha Batra s Rmki senes. ~he_ seco?d
now, the focus has shifted on marred and downtrodden societies.
part of the essay explores how postfeminism and spatial 1dent1ty
However, the popularity of young adult literature is steeped
inspire empowered girlhood.
in controversy, questions, and critiques. The topical issues of
"YA Novels in the College Classroom: A Space to Create
puberty, sex, drugs, and bad decision-making are challenged in
Social Justice Warriors" by Padma Baliga and Livia Antony
bookstores and in school board meetings. From Judy Blume's
focuses on bringing in questions of social justice into t~e
Forever to Chris Crutcher's Athletic Shorts, characters, topics,
classroom space by using young adult (YA) novels for th1s
and plotlines have been challenged. Profanity in the dialogue and :"'e
purpose. The authors remark, "ln th_is paper, shall explore
prose pushes boundaries as well; however, authors know they
the possibilities of introducing a select10n of Ind1an YA to college
can book readers by providing a realistic sampling of dialogue
students to open up a discussion on social justice."
in their stories. Teens have no patience for "sugar-coating" or
Shane Peacock has created a boy who bears all the seeds of
downplaying conversations, let alone downplaying storylines.
the character who has mesmerized millions: the relentless eye, the
The YA novel's primary subtext is usually about identity
sense of justice, and the complex ego. The boy Sherlock Hol~es
construction. Young adults are constructing their sense of self
· is a fascinating character who is sure to become a fast favounte
and the books they read may be a part of that process. Since
with young readers everywhere. "'I Infer, So I Am Free!'-On
young adult literature exerts a powerful influence over its readers
how Shane Peacock has Subverted Doylean Conception of
at a particularly malleable time in their identity formation, we
Inference in Persuading Young Readers in Eye of the Crow: The
ought to approach YA literature with the same careful scrutiny,
Boy Sherlock Ho/mes, His 1st Case" by Billy Bio Feng H~ang is
even if it is written about and to young adults, rather than by
a well-researched essay. .(\s he remarks, "ln this paper, I mtend
them.
to draw parallelism between Melanie C. Green ai:id Timot~y
Young Adult Fiction: Issues and Trends focuses on various
C. Brock's transportation theory and young adult hterature, m
issues faced by young people with a unique and understanding
order to address my first point: the fondamental aim of young
perspective. While engendering a healthy understanding of
adult literature is to persuade young readers. My second point is
different cultures, and focusing on tht; importance of equality
that while persuading his young audience, Peacock bas literally
between all people, this genre encourages young people to read
subverted the Doylean conception of inference in Eye of the
and to connect, helping to shape their young minds for the better.
Crow: The Boy Ho/mes, His 1st Case."
The sixteen scholarly essays in this anthology provide the youth
"Growing out of Location" by Alessandro Monti and Carole
of today with relevant life lessons, which are learnt by characters
Rozzonelli focuses on the theme of domestic alienation in young
similar to them.
viii Preface Preface ix
adult novels. Fictional young adults, either from the subcontinent,
old (strength, opportunity), his representation of the Shiva myth
India and Pakistan, or from the diasporic lands, the United States
unfortunately is a far cry from the original myth and may be
and England, live in a disturbing condition of maladjustrnent the
viewed by purists as distortion, trivialization, and flattening of
former, due to the burden of the excessive requirements irnposed
the same (weakness and threat).
by the family, or in isolating non-hyphenated estrangernent and
In her essay, "Pedagogical Curiosity in Young Adult Literature"
perennial rniscegenation of failed shared identities, the latter.
Mehar Fatima interrogates, "Can young adult literature offer
Elena Xeni's paper, "Exploring Traditional and Conternporary
suitable way to meet literary standards in our English classrooms,
Conceptions in Young Adult Literature: The Way frorn the
in schools and universities, or is it destined to a marginal
'Incapable' to the 'Capable' Young Reader" initiates an
fonction of leisure reading for adolescent learners outside English
exploration of predorninant traditional and contemporary social
classrooms?" She critically examines the canons of young adult
conceptions about the young reader from the adult's point of
literature and remarks, "Its purpose is to deal with construction
view. The paper aims at providing an ,overview of the journey
of societies, homes and persona! affairs in a democratic world."
that took a nurnber of centuries and a greater number of adults
Maitree Deb, in her paper, "The Fair and the Foui: Reading
to construct the role that adults play in the framework of socially
the Journey of the Narratives of Agatha Christie's Murder on the
constructed conceptions of the young reader and literature for
Orient Express and Satyajit Ray's Sonar Kella," tries to examine
children and adults.
the course of the narrative structure of the two texts, through
"Environrnental Education through Fiction: A Study of
the primary trope of physical and psychological journey, which
Deepak Dalal's Vikrarn-Aditya Series" by Shobhna Rarnaswarny
forms a significant part of both the narratives, to explore how
focuses on Dalal's emphasis in his works, on the conservation of
two generically opposite and contrasting forces unravel the fair
forests and wildlife, and his concept of connecting young people
and the foui corners of the human mind.
with the wilderness.
"Retreat to Primordial 'Id': Reflection on the Marooned
"Reading Frankenstein and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll
Boys' Transposition from R.M. Ballantyne's The Coral Island ·
and Mr. Hyde in High School: The Oscillating Worlds of
to William Golding's Lord of the Plies," by Jyotirmoy Sil studies
'Beautiful' and 'Ugly'" by Sharmistha Chatterjee Sriwastav
the scope of the Robinsonade story from Ballantyne's The Coral
examines a wide range of issues that these two novels bring forth
Island set in the Victorian times-an era ruled by the imperialist
to their young readers making them veritable treasure houses of
temperament-to the war-stricken modern context and deviates
options-options which could make or mar individuals' lives,
from the story's orientation confirming/justifying Victorian
could give wings to their talents, or toss them to purgatories. It
British priggishness to reveal the unethical bestial kernel or, in
is up to the readers to choose between the two.
the terminology of Sigmund Freud, 'id' active underneath the
"Postrnodernism and Indian Adult Literature: A Study of façade of human civilization. ·
Shiva Trilogy" by Arpa Ghosh concentrates chiefly on Arnish
"Girlhood-Construction of a Female's Childhood in the 21st
Tripathi's Shiva Trilogy to point out certain key features in
Century," by lbha Gupta examines three children's series-Harry
young adult reading habits. As Ghosh rernarks, "WhiJe Amish's
Potter, Artemis Fowl and Percy Jackson, that have been both
wonderfully written book has reignited a love for reading in
critically acclaimed and widely popular, to analyze how 'girlhood'
countless school-going and college-going readers and draws
is constructed in the 21st century. The paper will illustrate how
attention to such contemporary socio-political issues as the
'girlhood' portrayed in children's texts can challenge stereotypes
evil of war, rnisuse of atornic explosives, honour killings, and
such as 'run like a girl' and in the process, empower readers of
widow remarriage, thereby holding the attention of young and
all genders.
X Preface
"The Overly Sentimental Musings in The Perks of Being a
Wallflower," by Saloni Prasad explores in detail, The Perks of
Being a Wallflower, a contemporary modern coming-of-age novel
Contents
by Stephan Chbosky, which brilliantly captures the perspective
of an introvert, a socially challenged individual who observes
life, rather than participating in it.
In her essay, "Robert Cormier: The Forebearer of Young
Adult Fiction," Runa, remarks, "The young adult books of the
Preface......................................................................
1970s remain true time capsules of the high school experience 111
and the drama of being misunderstood. Books like Cormier's Contributors . . . ... . . . ... .. ... . .. ... . ......... .. .. . . . . . . . ... . .. ... . .. . . . . . Xttt
The Chocolate War brought a literary sense to books targeted
at teens." 1. In Pursuit of Young Adult Fiction............................ 1
Sapna Kumari in her paper, "Judy Blume: An Undaunted Reena Mitra
Voice in Young Adult Fiction" examines the portrayal of youth
2. Spatial Identity and Postfeminist Girlhood in Indian
and its predicaments in Blume's works and analyses Blume, "as
Young Adult Chick Lit............................................. 14
both an observer and a voice for adolescent girls and boys."
Anto Thomas Chakramakkil
This anthology aims at offering a subtle, illuminating,
and accessible exploration of issues and trends in YA fiction 3. YA Novels in the College Classroom: A Space to
which will prove to be very helpful for students and the faculty.
Create Social Justice Warriors................................... 33
This anthology would not have existed but for the efforts of
Padma Baliga and Livia Antony
the contributors who patiently wrote and sometimes rewrote
their articles at my request. I thank each of the authors for 4. 'I Infer, So I Am Free!'-On How Shane Peacock has
devoting their time and effort to this book. I also wish to thank Subverted the Doylean Conception of Inference in
Dr. K.R. Gupta, Chairman, Atlantic Publishers and Distributors Persuading Young Readers in Eye of the Crow: The
Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi for the confidence evinced in me and for
Boy Sherlock Ho/mes, His 1st Case.......................... 44
seeing the book through the press.
Billy Bin Feng Huang
Sunita Sinha
5. Growing Out of Location......................................... 81
Alessandro Monti and Carole Rozzonelli
6. Exploring Traditional and Contemporary
Conceptions in Young Adult Literature: The Way
from the 'Incapable' to the 'Capable' Young Reader 89
Elena Xeni
7. Environmental Education through Fiction: A Study
of Deepak Dalal's Vikram-Aditya Series ................... 98
Shobhna Ramaswamy
xii
Contents
8. Reading Frankenstein and The Strange Case of
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in High-School:
The Oscillating Worlds of 'Beautiful' and 'Ugly' ...... 112
Contributors
Sharmistha Chatterjee Sriwastav
9. Postmodernism and Indian Adult Literature:
A Study of Shiva Trilogy ........................................... 123
Arpa Ghosh
10. Pedagogical Curiosity in Young Adult Literature ..... 133
Mehar Fatima Reena Mitra, Professor in English, Amity School of Languages,
Amity University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
11. The Fair and the Foui: Reading .the Journey of the
Anto Thomas Chakramakkil, Associate Professor and Head
Narratives of Agatha Christie's Murder on the
of the Research Department of English, St. Thomas' College
Orient Express and Satyajit Ray's Sonar Kella ......... 143
(Autonomous), Thrissur, Kerala.
Maitree Deb
Padma Baliga did her doctoral studies in the areas of gender
12. Retreat to Primordial 'Id': Reflection on the studies and Indian children's literature. After teaching for over
Marooned Boys' Transposition from 20 years, she is now an independent researcher and is currently
R.M. Ballantyne's The Coral Island to William carrying out her postdoctoral research in Konkani children's
Golding's Lord of the Plies ....................................... 154 literature.
Jyotirmoy Sil Livia Antony, B.Sc. in Microbiology and an MA in English from
St. Joseph's College, Bangalore.
13. Girlhood-Construction of a Female's Childhood
She is currently pursuing independent research and hopes to
in the 21st Century ................................................... 166
earn her Ph.D. in Film Studies.
lbha Gupta
Billy Bin Feng Huang, Ph.D. Candidate, National Chengchi
14. The Overly Sentimental Musings in The Perks University, Taiwan (R.O.C.).
of Being a Wallflower ............................................. 177
Alessandro Monti, Retired Full Professor in English, Former
Saloni Prasad (Mrs. Kumar)
Head of the Department of Oriental Studies, University of
Turin, Italy. Fellow of Indian Council Relations in 2011 in the
15. Robert Cormier: The Forebearer of Young
Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Banaras
Adult Fiction ............................................................. 185
Hindu Universities, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.
Runa
Carole Rozzonelli, Associate Professor of English, ICT,
16. Judy Blume: An Undaunted Voice in Young Communications and Media Law, University of Lyon 2 -
Adult Fiction. ............................................................ 194 Lumière (France).
Sapna Kumari
Elena Xeni, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
Shobhna Ramaswamy, Assistant Professor, Department of
English, Kongunadu Arts & Science College, Coimbatore.
xiv Contributors
Sharmistha Chatterjee (Sriwastav), Associate Professor in 1
English Aliah University, Kolkata, West Bengal.
Arpa Ghosh, Associate Professor, Head, Department of English,
Vivekananda College for Women, Kolkata,West Bengal.
ln Pursuit of Young Adult Fiction
Mehar Fatima, Assistant Professor, Department of English,
Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.
Maitree Deb, Guest faculty, Muralidhar Girls' College, Salt
Lake, Kolkata, West Bengal and Visiting Faculty Techno India
University, Salt Jake, Kolkata, West Bengal.
Reena Mitra
Jyotirmoy Sil, Research Scholar, Aliah University, Kolkata.
Ibha Gupta, Research Scholar, Goa University, Goa.
Saloni Prasad (Mrs. Kumar), Professor and Head, Department It is part of the novel's development and its prevalent
of English, Commerce College, Patna. preoccupation to explore new and extended boundaries for
itself and reconstitute its form and structure. Concepts of what
Runa, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Patna
the nove! is and what it might be have had such major paradigm
Women's College, Patna.
, shifts in the recent past that one has to make a conscious and
Sapna Kumari, Assistant Professor, Department of English, conscientious effort to figure out the contours of the serious
Patna Women's College, Patna.
imaginative and creative repositioning that is in process in the
literary fictional world of today. There are sure and unmistakable
signs of a characteristic new era of content and style. The nove!
now, as Malcolm Bradbury puts it, is "in a profitable ferment"1
from which, hopefully, will emerge a new poetics of fiction.
At the start of the twentieth century great changes in
the form and fonctions of the nove! were perceived and by
about the 1920s one witnessed the rolling out of what we call
modernism today. With the loss of the novelist's faith in reality
and chronology, and with his subscription to the relationship
between the individual and his social and moral development
withdrawn, the nove! turned inward to explore consciousness
individual and collective-and in this it conformed to the new
pronouncements of philosophy and psychology that had become
almost indispensable to our comprehension of experience and
actuality. With a host of publications like Wayne Booth's The
Rhetoric of Fiction (1961), David Lodge's The Language of
Fiction (1966) and Scholes and Kellogg's The Nature of Narrative
(1966), the nove! increasingly became a deliberate and focused
2 Young Adult Fiction: Issues and Trends ln Pursuit of Young Adult Fiction 3
mode of organizing experience, experience of an individual or of conviction that is infectious and permeates the minds of
a group, with the thrust not on the causality of things but on its readers. It has the air of experience lived and felt and the
the experience itself which generally distils meaning out of what central characters in most cases, conform to the established
transpires in life. The contemporary navel foregrounds certain psychology of adolescents who happen to be the target bracket.
aspects of the text, like states of mind and particular abjects There are moments of typical emotional strain resulting from
which need to be redefined to bring cognizance and meaning to suspense in certain matters and these junctures of uncertainty
bear upon the life or lives chosen for depiction. The focus is on are characterized by hopeful anticipation or anxiety. There is,
the experientially real. According to Ronald Sukenick, on such occasions, a tendency to savour to the full the content
... the movement of fiction should always be in the direction of the point intime rendered and, as Joseph Warren Beach puts
of what we sense as real.. .. The novelist accommodates the it, there is "an infinite expansion of the moment".4
ongoing flow of experience, smashing anything that impedes A lay reader has a legitimate interest in the actions as well
his sense of it, even if it happens to be the novel.2 as the behaviour of characters in a novel that have an irresistible
It is at this juncture of the growth and development of the appeal and are endowed with a degree of authenticity and
English navel in the 1960s and ?Os that young adult fiction lifelikeness that helps him identify with the protagonist despite
appeared on the literary horizon with all the authenticity and the difference in age that might exist between them. The empathy
conviction of lives lived and distress and anguish undergone. and connect between the two may be in terms of aspirations as
well as circumstances or even with regard to aspects that are
The truth of life or "reality" as Austin Warren refers to it,
not really quantifiable and realizable in terms of the material
is effectively registered in our hearts and minds not when we
and the tangible. So, young adult fiction, though sometimes
measure it with regard to factual accuracy as it prevails in the
apparently irrational and hypothetical, possesses an abiding
actual world of human existence but when we judge it within
concern for a better deal in life that needs to be offered to the
the world or Kosmas as recreated in the literary composition
younger generation so as to enable it to steer through life with
by the author himself, the world structured in terms of the
confidence and aplomb.
various aspects of the novel-plot, characters, setting, tenor and
the comprehensive general design, all collaborating to realize Young adults are attracted to and are compulsorily drawn
the implicit world view. All great novels furnish a universe into a literary work when they see an idea, an attitude or a chunk
epitomizing the experiential and heuristic existence around of truth passing from their own lives into a creation that is by
but each is distinct in what Warren calls its "self-coherent no means moribund; rather, it is a composition that blazes a trail
intelligibility". 3 of hitherto ineffable personal experiences into words which one
can readily identify with and bank upon for a true representation
The whole record of the life of adolescent protagonists as
of one's own thoughts and feelings. Authors writing about
depicted in young adult navels, which started being written
adolescents seem to ferret out their way unerringly to the perfect
in about the 1960s has an amazing air of reality, and the
concoction where life and fiction blend to offer a delineation of
verisimilitude that marks them gives as plausible and intense
a concatenation of significant events that vicariously provides
an impression of life as ever lived by youngsters. The principal
an intellectual satisfaction and the joy of being able to locate
characters are intimately portrayed with their past, their
meaning in their own lives. And, as Peter Brook, in another
proclivities, mental and physical habits and motivations in
context avers, "meaning never belongs to the past. It can be
life from moment to moment with such fidelity that this genre
checked in each man's present experience". 5 Young adult authors
of contemporary fiction is undoubtedly endowed with a kind
as well as readers do not fail to draw the elixir provided by such
4 Young Adult Fiction: Issues and Trends ln Pursuit of Young Adult Fiction 5
~--- ---- - - --- -----
writings which prepare them for the multiplicity of life and its
prevailing in their lives, ar~ ofte? initiat~r_s of change as _they
unpredictability. rebel against the present mferule cond1t1ons to usher m a
Till the 1960s young adult fiction comprised the writings period of supposedly fruitful and p_rosperous circumsta~ces. An
of the marginalised consciousness of the adolescents who tried individual is always confronted w1th a number of ch01ces and
to express themselves and communicate with the world around it is the particular choices made that determine the tenor of his
putting forth their views on issues that concerned them but in life. An adolescent girl or boy needs to exercise an option at
the contemporary times, it has assumed a considerable degree of every turn of life and it is every notable preference expressed and
centrality and can in no way, be ignored or overlooked. It is the complied with that weaves the texture of one's individual life.
literature written by adolescents or young adults who savour life "Existentialism is opposed to ail forms of necessitarianism; for
as it cornes to them, life which is a series of negotiations for love, existence is constituted by possibilities from among which man
peace and stability in a world which scourges and lashes them may choose and through which he can project himself" .8 Our
with threats of assault and dissolution. Their narrative method young generation today does not believe in blindly accepting
contests the fixed and unchanging nature of reality in life and what Providence has in store for it. With an indefatigable spirit
provides multiple personalized interpretations of experiences it puts up a brave fight and makes its choices so as to condition
that were earlier looked upon as fixed and immutable in nature. the future as it wishes it to be.
The multifarious perspectives presented through an adolescent Corriing now to the distinctive features of young adult
mind challenges established views about several social practices literature it would be ill'Uminating to know that the National
in life and explores their multiple implications and nuances as Council of Teachers of English has defined this genre as
affecting young adult life.
literature wherein the protagonist is either a teenager or one
The American novelist, Hawthorne, discriminating between who approaches problems from a teenage perspective ....
"romance" and "novel" with particular reference to the American Typically, they describe initiation into the adult world, or
literary scene, significantly remarked that navels were "presumed the surmounting of a contemporary problem forced upon
to aim at a very minute fidelity, not merely to the possible, but to the protagonist(s) by the adult world. Though generally
the probable and ordinary course of man's experience" .6 It is this written for a teenager reader, such novels-like ail fine
probability in the lives of young individuals that is highlighted literature-address the entire speétrum of life.9
in the fiction for adolescents, who are plagued with numerous
It is, however, unfortunate that the entire bulk of young
and diverse problems which intimidate them with instability and
adult literature is often branded as "immature" or a mere
impose on them a life of peril and defenselessness resulting in
"beach read" despite the fact that it has often appealed to some
moral and emotional decrepitude and a constant fear of their
as literature of substance and of unquestionable consequence.
own vulnerability.
The juvenility and inexperience of its adolescent protagonists
Youngsters in their adolescent years are, by and large, alone cannot justify their being stamped as "bad" literature. The
existentialist in their approach, "existence" being "the fact or young children about to step into adulthood may be portrayed
manner of existing or living". 'Existentialism' in the Oxford as befuddled and disoriented but is not that an undeniable
Reference Dictionary is defined as "a philosophical theory poignant truth with regard to that particular stage in human
emphasizing the existence of the individual persan as a free and life? The nostalgie clinging to the evanescent childhood loves
responsible agent determining his or her own development". 7 and the vulnerability and apprehension of moving into the
Young adults, though generally victims of specific conditions uncertainties of adulthood are unnerving experiences that are