This class requires both research and a considerable amount of writing. This course explores classic works in which key characters are adolescents as well as works that have been specifically written for adolescents, primarily the contemporary Young Adult novel. These issues are depicted frequently in first-person narratives that reveal the keen emotions, humor, and observations of teenagers, and sometimes their agonies. Authors whose renditions of adolescence we will read include James Joyce, Sophocles, J.D. Salinger, Russell Hoban, and Rigoberta Menchu. This class is recommended for students in general and especially for those interested in secondary school teaching.
Requirements are five written assignments, a midterm, and a final.
The rationale of the course is the discussion of the essence of children's fiction and its range from idyllic through carnivalesque toward postlapsarian. It will also inquire into the specific features of European children's literature by comparing the originals to some American film versions. Collaborative papers are highly encouraged.