scholarly journals Journey from Trauma to Transcendence Through Art Therapy: The Study of Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (I) ◽  
pp. 147-163

The aim of this research paper is to analyze the novel of American writer, Laurie Halse Anderson, entitled Speak, through the lens of art therapy to highlight that the journey from trauma to transcendence is possible through the therapeutic medium of art. This study examines all the traumatic encounters which the protagonist of Speak, Melinda Sordino, must face in her adolescence period and her constant struggle to cope with those experiences. The research substantiates that Anderson's novel frames speech and recovery from depression and traumatic stress possible through the artistic renderings. The theoretical framework of this paper is encapsulated in Shaun McNiff’s theory of art as medicine. The scopes of existing studies of Laurie Anderson’s Speak are limited to the exploration of the impact of traumatic encounters on the psychological and social growth of the young adult but this has not been clarified that how the protagonist overpowers the weaknesses and frailties of her mind through the healing properties of art. The decipherment of the element of art therapy in Speak fills the gap in research on trauma recovery through expressive art in Young Adult literature. Thus, the findings generated from this study might help future researchers in exploring various dimensions of Young Adult Literature to study the implications of trauma recovery through creative art therapy.

Author(s):  
Melanie Kittrell Hundley ◽  
Teri Holbrook

Dennis Baron (1999) writes about the impact of digital technology on literacy practices and thus is a good exemplar for considering how communication technologies are changing the ways in which stories are told. In this chapter, we argue that young adult literature authors and readers are currently in what Baron terms an inventive stage as they devise new ways of producing storied texts. Young adult authors, aware of their readers as avid, exploring, and savvy tech users, experiment with text formats to appeal to readers growing up in a digital “participatory culture” (Jenkins, Purushotma, Weigel, Clinton & Robins, 2009). In a cultural climate where the very notion of what constitutes a book is changing, our chapter responds to Baron's (2009) claim that readers and writers are in the process of “[learning] to trust a new technology and the new and strange sorts of texts that it produces” (p. x).


2018 ◽  
pp. 1460-1491
Author(s):  
Melanie Kittrell Hundley ◽  
Teri Holbrook

Dennis Baron (1999) writes about the impact of digital technology on literacy practices and thus is a good exemplar for considering how communication technologies are changing the ways in which stories are told. In this chapter, we argue that young adult literature authors and readers are currently in what Baron terms an inventive stage as they devise new ways of producing storied texts. Young adult authors, aware of their readers as avid, exploring, and savvy tech users, experiment with text formats to appeal to readers growing up in a digital “participatory culture” (Jenkins, Purushotma, Weigel, Clinton & Robins, 2009). In a cultural climate where the very notion of what constitutes a book is changing, our chapter responds to Baron's (2009) claim that readers and writers are in the process of “[learning] to trust a new technology and the new and strange sorts of texts that it produces” (p. x).


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 63-73
Author(s):  
Marta Niewieczerzał

The paper aims to examine images of the Basilisk in Polish children’s and young adult literature. It also compares the monster’s image known from traditional urban legends with its depictions in their postmodern versions. In the original variants of the legends, this creature takes various forms — supposed to be a monster that hatches from the egg laid by a rooster, it is often described as an animal the size of a hen, with a turkey neck and head and a frog’s eyes; partially a cock, partially a reptile, etc. The hybrid image of the Basilisk allows the elements of its characteristics to be used in later versions of the story and its re-workings. The analysis herein focuses on Legendy Warszawskie. Antologia [Warsaw Legends: An Anthology] (2016) which presents six versions of the Basilisk’s legend. These texts are juxtaposed with the project “Legends of Poland” by Allegro (e-book and a short movie Operacja Bazyliszek [Operation Basilisk]), as well as with the novel Felix, Net i Nika oraz Pułapka Nieśmiertelności [Felix, Net and Nika and the Trap of Immortality] (2007) by Rafał Kosik, and Księga Potworów [The  Book of Monsters] (2016) by Michał Rusinek. The author concludes that the Basilisk may be seen as a transfictional figure that transcends the boundaries of the original storyworld, which shows that — as many other legendary monsters — it should be seen not as a past phenomenon, but rather as something that still “lives” in culture and constantly evolves.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. BB102-BB118
Author(s):  
Helma Van Lierop-Debrauwer

In 2014, the American writer Jacqueline Woodson published Brown Girl Dreaming, the story of her childhood in free verse, which was classified as young adult literature. Most US reviewers characterized and appreciated the book both as a human rights narrative of a young brown girl’s coming of age against the socio-political background of racism and the Civil Rights Movement in the United States of the 1960s, and as a personal history of her development as a writer. In this article the major focus will be on how Brown Girl Dreaming as both a political memoir and an autobiographical narrative of identity formation is fleshed out. On the basis of my analysis of these two plot lines, I will further argue that its categorization as young adult literature disguises that the novel addresses a dual audience of adult and young readers. In my argumentation related to the political and personal character of the novel, as well as in my discussion of the crossover potential of Brown Girl Dreaming, I will focus on the presence of voice and silence.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-93
Author(s):  
Ari Setyorini ◽  
Serwana Idris

This article attempts to portray how a contemporary young adult literature entitled The Giver (Lowry, 1993) illustrates the operation of state apparatus in a dystopian setting of time and place. Applying Althusser’s theory of state apparatuses, the study particularly focuses on a prominent issue of Ideological State Apparatuses (ISA) which is operated within the The Giver’s society. Descriptive qualitative research is applied to interpret the data in the novel. The result of this study reveals that the novel draws ISA as a tool to control and to maintain the dominance in this dystopian community. The ISA operates through training system, particular rule of language used by the community, media censorship, and family’s role.


Author(s):  
Arvind Dahal

The inevitable and universal nature of death has made it a popular topic in Young Adult literature. While death recurs in these stories however, death in young adult novels is much darker and more complex. In this light, this paper discusses why is the issue of death in Young Adult fiction is still a safe place to discuss from the novel “The Outsiders”. It argues that the young adults find themselves in a state of morbid fear and realize that what for them is the site of joy and peace is a place of horror to the adults.


Author(s):  
Melanie Kittrell Hundley ◽  
Teri Holbrook

Dennis Baron (1999) writes about the impact of digital technology on literacy practices and thus is a good exemplar for considering how communication technologies are changing the ways in which stories are told. In this chapter, we argue that young adult literature authors and readers are currently in what Baron terms an inventive stage as they devise new ways of producing storied texts. Young adult authors, aware of their readers as avid, exploring, and savvy tech users, experiment with text formats to appeal to readers growing up in a digital “participatory culture” (Jenkins, Purushotma, Weigel, Clinton & Robins, 2009). In a cultural climate where the very notion of what constitutes a book is changing, our chapter responds to Baron's (2009) claim that readers and writers are in the process of “[learning] to trust a new technology and the new and strange sorts of texts that it produces” (p. x).


Author(s):  
Ni Ketut Mirahayuni ◽  
Susie Chrismalia Garnida

Abstract. Studies on young adult literature has been flourised since late 20th century and early 21st century and have been interested in identifying defining characteristics of those literary works aimed for young or teen readers. Those studies have focused on the themes, conflicts and characters reflecting the interests of young readers in their search for self identity, adventures, dreams and life problems (Brown and Stephens, 1995; Tri Pramesti, 2016). Other studies examines the language features in young adult literature (Bushman and Haas, 2002; Tri Pramesti, 2015) and language style (Dwi Noverini Djenar, 2008). This article reports a study on the use of evaluative adjectives, a specific language aspect in young adult literature that seems to be employed by the author to express characters’ evaluation toward self and others. The study is conducted within the theoretical framework of systemic functional linguistics analysis of appraisal, particularly the aspects of affect whose realisations involves the use of evaluative adjectives expressing the senses of happiness, security and satisfaction (Halliday and Matthiessen, 2014; Martin and White, 2005). The data were 388 lexical items collected from Mandy Hubbard’s Prada and Prejudice, focusing on the main character’s evaluation of herself and other characters in the novel. The result of the study shows that Prada and Prejudice employs a variety of evaluative adjectives expressing the main character’s evaluation that are related to the sense of happiness, security and satisfaction. This study contributes to better understanding some aspects of language style in literature aiming at young readerships. Keywords: young adult literature, evaluative adjectives, Prada and Prejudice


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zaireen Zuleiqha Zainol Abidin ◽  
Mohd Syuhaidi Abu Bakar

The majority of research that exists on mental illness refers to the portrayals of adults with mental illness in films and television shows but limited research has been conducted on the portrayals of teenagers suffering from mental illness through a medium such as young adult literature. This study discussed and discovered the elements of depression behaviors depicted in the novel ―All the Bright Places‖ by Jennifer Niven (2015). The writers chose to study the two main characters, Theodore Finch and Violet Markey, and explored the elements of depression behaviors in the novel. Each text was descriptively examined using textual analysis and coded using a coding book. It was found that the novel depicts all elements of cognitive distortions in Beck's Cognitive Theory of Depression (All-Or-Nothing Thinking, Overgeneralization, Magnification and Minimizing, Personalizing, Mental Filter, Jumping to Conclusions, Labelling, Emotional Reasoning, Mind Reading; and Disqualifying the Positive). To conclude, Niven has addresses not only depression and also suicide with a seriousness and realism. A beautiful juxtaposition. Despite the ending, she leaves the reader with a sense of hope, that it will get better although never easier. Keywords: Young Adult Literature, Depression, All the Bright Places


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