“Beyond the Boundaries:” Negotiations of Space, Place, Body and Subjectivity in YA Fiction

Author(s):  
Caroline Hamilton-McKenna
Keyword(s):  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 87-115
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Mochocka

Two Perspectives on the Performative Social Body: Teenage Make-up Routines in Fanfik and the Jeżycjada cycle. The article discusses make-up as an important element in a storyworld of YA fiction. It uses examples taken from novels by two Polish authors, the well-established and acclaimed Małgorzata Musierowicz, the author of the Jeżycjada cycle 1977–2015, and Natalia Osińska, who has recently debuted with a novel entitled Fanfik 2016. The article shows that Osińska’s novel can be seen as a transformative rendition of Musi­erowicz’s works. It also focuses on the paratexts adding meaningful context in the case of both Musiero­wicz and Osińska, as well as comments on the public recognition of Musierowicz’s fiction, the responses of Musierowicz’s fandom to the alleged ideological message of her novels, and the political agenda of the publishing house that put Osińska’s book on the market. The concepts of the performative social body, the cosmetic paradox, and glamour are employed to argue that Osińska’s book is intended as a critique of the world-view presented in Jeżycjada’s storyworld. Although a direct relationship between the two fictional worlds cannot be established, the article highlights some tangent points between them: in both cases, make-up serves the expression of the value system. In the Jeżycjada cycle, it is presented mostly as disguise and deception even though at the same time discreet make-up is meant to be part and parcel of womens’ lives. By contrast, featuring queer teenagers, Osińska’s debut novel highlights the transformative function of cosmetics as tools used to create the social body.Две точки зрения на перформативное социальное тело: подростковый макияж в романах Fanfik и Jeżycjada. В тексте рассматривается макияж как важный элемент мира беллетристики для юных читателей. В статье использованы примеры из романов двух польских авторов: из­вестной Малгожаты Мусерович, автора цикла Jeżycjada, и Натальи Осинской, которая недавно дебютировала c романом Fanfik. Текст объясняет тот факт, что роман Oсинской был провоз­глашен своего рода интерпретацией произведений Мусерович. В статье проанализированы паратексты, создающие значимый контекст, в произведениях Мусерович и Осинской. Автор исследования затрагивает вопрос об общественном признании литературы Мусерович. В статье прокомментированы ответы фэндома писательницы на предполагаемое идеологическое посла­ние ее романов и рассмотрена политическая позиция издательства, которое выпустило книгу Осинской на рынок. В статье также идет речь о концепции перформативного социального тела, косметического парадокса и гламура. Книга Осинской считается критикой мировоззрения, представленного в мире Jeżycjady. Хотя прямая связь между двумя вымышленными мирами не может быть установлена, между ними, безусловно, есть некоторые точки пересечения. В обоих случаях макияж служит для выражения системы ценностей. В цикле Jeżycjada макияж представ­лен в основном как маскировка и обман, но в то же время сдержанный макияж — неотъемлемая часть жизни женщин. С другой стороны, опиcывая квир подростков, Осинская подчеркивает в своем дебютном романе трансформационную функцию косметики как инструмента, исполь­зуемого для создания социального тела.


Book 2 0 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Webb

The coronavirus pandemic has stimulated a number of texts, which are aimed at helping children to cope with situations alien to them. For example, the picture book Staying Home by Sally Nichols and Vivienne Schwarz (2020) deals with the conditions of lockdown and family isolation, whilst Piperpotamus by Annis Watts endeavours to explain COVID-19. This pandemic is not the only such event in history. The Black Death swept across Europe (1347–51) followed by the Spanish flu pandemic (1918–20). Both of these have stimulated historical fiction for older children and Young Adults and have done so by employing differing literary approaches. For instance, Cat Winters’ In the Shadow of Blackbirds (2013) incorporates a ghost story set against the contexts of séances and spirit photographers as the bereaved hope to gain comfort, whilst Charles Todd’s An Unmarked Grave (2012) is a murder mystery. Dystopian science fiction has also been employed to examine the equivalent circumstances of such pandemics. The plague in Gone (2008–14) by Michael Grant follows a nuclear disaster, which has produced a world where only those under fifteen have survived beneath a dome created by a young autistic child at the point of the explosion. Unforeseen forces have erupted resulting in mutation where individuals have supernatural powers taking them into a posthuman state. Their world is later blighted by plague and the children have to deal with remaking their lives and their society without the help of adults. This article will consider the various ways that such texts have approached these world-changing disasters and the common themes, which emerge to give our current generation of children ways of thinking about their present and their future.


2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 7-12
Author(s):  
Olga Bukhina ◽  
Mara Faye Lethem ◽  
Lyn Miller-Lachmann ◽  
Avery Fischer Udagawa ◽  
Laura Watkinson

In this collaborative conversation, we are thrilled to feature the words of several YA translators who address explicitly the intricacies of conveying stories across languages. We are grateful for their candor as they share both the challenges and the joys that come with the translation process and hope that their willingness to engage in this thoughtful and public conversation will highlight just how important their work is to the field. As to process, we generated and sent a series of questions to each author. We compiled the responses into a single document and then sent the compiled version back and forth to authors to solicit questions, elaborations, and revisions until all were satisfied with the resulting piece. We hope that in reading this piece, you gain both an increased appreciation for these authors and the value of translated works of YA fiction and nonfiction.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Rebecca Ball

<p>This project explores the representation of teenagers in some of the most popular Young Adult Fiction (YA) books of the early 2010s. A dominant assumption within the scholarly discussion of YA is that YA books are books for young people that feature protagonists with whom young people personally identify. Through an analysis of nine American YA books, this thesis offers an overview of the sorts of protagonists often found in the novels on New Zealand’s YA bestseller lists. Reporting results from a questionnaire and one-on-one interviews conducted with young YA readers, it explores whether or not this model of being a teenager is one with which young people do actually identify.  Using Erving Goffman’s 1959 theory of impression management as a lens, this thesis explores how the protagonists of the selected novels see their world as a stage upon which they are expected to act out socially acceptable roles. While female protagonists use strategies to meet this pressure and emerge as competent social actors, male protagonists find themselves governed by forces beyond their control that render them social aliens. Whereas female protagonists face negative consequences for being themselves, male protagonists are rewarded for doing so. Regardless of their acting ability, all protagonists are represented as confused, insecure and troubled. The selected texts thus support stereotypes about teenage girls, teenage boys and young people in general that differ from those of the past but are ultimately no less problematic.  The participants in this project’s small mixed-methods study shared this view of the protagonists but did not generally identify with them. While they enjoyed reading these books, this was not necessarily because of the protagonists, for whom they felt more concern than empathy. Rather than reflecting any kind of ‘truth’ about what it means to be a teenager, it seems that the protagonists of the selected texts reflect how adult authors, editors and booksellers imagine teenagers to be. This is a significant finding given the rising numbers of adults who are reading YA and the declining numbers of teenagers who are reading for pleasure.</p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 303
Author(s):  
Dona J. Helmer

The co-editors are June Pulliam, who teaches classes in horror literature, YA fiction, and film, and Anthony Fonesca, who has written about horror and also has a background in information literacy. They previously co-authored Hooked on Horror: A Guide to Reading Interests in the Genre, and have now applied their talents and expertise to create a work that contains accessible information about a popular topic.


1984 ◽  
Vol 73 (7) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Jeanie Goodhope
Keyword(s):  

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document