The Adolescent in the American Novel, 1920-1960

The Adolescent in the American Novel, 1920-1960
Author: W. Tasker Witham
Publisher: New York : Ungar
Total Pages: 360
Release: 1964
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN:

A guide to the literature of adolescence mirroring the changing attitudes of novelist from the genteel tradition to the new era of frankness. For students of literature, sociologists, teachers, clergymen, parents, librarians.

Herman Wouk

Herman Wouk
Author:
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
Total Pages: 154
Release:
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1412825083

This study shows how Wouk's plays and novels exemplify an extraordinary and often highly perceptive preoccupation with American society in war and peace. Situating Wouk in the same literary tradition as Cervantes, Richardson, Balzac, and Dickens, Beichman demonstrates that Wouk's novels have strong plots, moralist outcomes, and active -essentially positive- characters. Beichman's focus is on the social and literary qualities of Wouk's work.

The Voice of the Child in American Literature

The Voice of the Child in American Literature
Author: Mary Jane Hurst
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Total Pages: 197
Release: 2014-07-15
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0813163498

We as adults are reflected in our children, those in our literature as well as those in our familes, and so it is natural to want to examine their presence among us. Children and child speech are important literary elements which merit careful critical analysis. Surprisingly, comprehensive studies of the child in American fiction have not been previously attempted and fictional child speech, even that of individual characters has been almost totally ignored. Nevertheless, the language of fictional children warrants attention for several reasons. First, language and language acquisition are primary issues for children much as sexual development is primary issues for adolescents. Second, because vast linguistic efforts have been directed toward language acquisition research, a broad base of concrete information exists with which to explore the topic. And, third, language is a key which opens many doors. An understanding of fictional children's language leads to discoveries about various critical questions, sociological and psychological as well as textual and stylistic. This study examines the presentation of children and child language in American fiction by applying general linguistic principles as well as specific findings from child language acquisition research to children's speech in literary texts. It clarifies, sorts, and assesses the representations of child speech in American fiction. It tests on fictional discourse linguistic concepts heretofore applied exclusively to naturally occurring child language. The aim is not to evaluate the degree of realism in writers' presentations of child language, for that would be a simplistic and reductive enterprise. Rather, the overall object is to analyze fictional child language using linguistic methods.

Homosexual Characters in YA Novels

Homosexual Characters in YA Novels
Author: Allan A. Cuseo
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Total Pages: 544
Release: 1992
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9780810825376

Analyzes homosexual characters from YA novels published between 1969 and 1982, aiming to assess their literary quality and determine if their image of homosexual characters is negative.

Adolescent Hero in the Works of Katherine Anne Porter and J.D. Salinger

Adolescent Hero in the Works of Katherine Anne Porter and J.D. Salinger
Author: Rashmi Gupta
Publisher: Atlantic Publishers & Dist
Total Pages: 148
Release: 2003
Genre: Teenagers in literature
ISBN: 9788126903177

Growing Up For Some Adolescents Is A Source Of Anxiety. They Dread Relinquishing Childhood Dependency And Assuming Responsibility. Sometimes They Feel Completely Overwhelmed By These Problems. In These Cases, Previous Blighting Experiences Make Them Hostile Or Excessively Submissive. From The Birth An Individual Is Influenced By The Social Environment And He Influences It. The Law Of Conditioning Plays A Significant Role In Fashioning Human Personality. The Influences Of Home, The Freedoms And Constraints Of Society And Processes Of Conflict, Co-Operation, Accommodation And Isolation Have Distinct Contribution In The Process Of Conditioning. The Social Forces, Social Problems And Social Situations Hamper Or Help An Individual Towards The Realization Of His Aspirations. Many Of The Problems Arise From Gender Discrimination And Social Set-Up Or Structure. It Is Against This Backdrop The Author Has Tried To Assess The Adolescent Behaviour In The Works Of Katherine Anne Porter And J.D. Salinger. Katherine Anne Porter S Later Stories And J.D. Salinger S The Catcher In The Rye Most Appropriately Suggest The Modern Predicament Of Alienation. Feeling Isolated The Hero Distrusts Truth, Justice And Love And Negates Everything Conforming To A Value-Oriented Society. Salinger S Main Concern Is With The Dehumanizing Effects Of Urbanization And Technological Developments On The Psyche Of An Individual. The Writer Feels That An Incessant Striving For Wealth, Luxuries And Comforts Of Technological Civilization Lead The Individual To Spiritual Vacuity. The Individual In Ms. Porter S Works Desires To Understand The Past And Compares It To The Failures Of Modern Man In A Mechanized, Chaotic World. Ms. Porter Longs For The Pastoral World Of The Past But Mocks Its Inadequacy To Meet The Contemporary Challenges. This Paradox Of Illusion Is Essential To Her Art And Philosophy Of Life.The Book Would Be Highly Useful Not Only For Students And Researchers Of English Literature But Also For Students And Researchers Of Psychology And Psycho-Therapists.

William Maxwell

William Maxwell
Author: Barbara A. Burkhardt
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2005
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780252030185

Best known as the longtime fiction editor at The New Yorker, William Maxwell worked closely with greats like Vladimir Nabokov, John Updike, Mary McCarthy, John Cheever, and many others. His own novels include They Came Like Swallows and So Long, See You Tomorrow, and have become so highly acclaimed that many now consider him to be one of the twentieth-century's most important writers. Barbara A. Burkhardt's William Maxwell: A Literary Life represents the first major critical study of Maxwell's life and work.Writing with an economy and elegance befitting her subject, Burkhardt addresses Maxwell's highly autobiographical fiction by skillfully interweaving his biography with her own critical interpretations. She begins each chapter with commentary on the biographical circumstances and literary influences that affected each of his compositions. By contextualizing his novels and short stories in terms of events including his mother's early death from influenza, his marriage, and the role of his psychoanalysis under the guidance of Theodore Reik, Burkhardt's subsequent literary analyses achieve an unprecedented depth.Drawing on a wide range of previously unavailable material, Burkhardt includes letters written to Maxwell by authors like Eudora Welty and Louise Bogan, excerpts from Maxwell's unpublished manuscripts and correspondence, and her own interviews with key figures from his life, including John Updike, Roger Angell, New Yorker fiction editor Robert Henderson, and Maxwell's family and friends. She also presents several lengthy sessions with Maxwell himself.A must for anyone already familiar with the understated charms of Maxwell's writing, this volume also represents a major addition to the growing collection of New Yorker lore, sure to fascinate anyone interested in the fiction, history, and personalities connected with the most influential weekly.Barbara A. Burkhardt is an assistant professor of English at the University of Illinois at Springfield. A close acquaintance of Maxwell, she organized his correspondence for the Maxwell archives at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign library, as well as writing the catalog for two exhibitions.

The Problems of ethnic female Adolescents as portrayed in Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye", Maxine Hong Kingston's "The Woman Warrior", Sandra Cisneros' "The House on Mango Street"

The Problems of ethnic female Adolescents as portrayed in Toni Morrison's
Author: Anna Watorczyk
Publisher: diplom.de
Total Pages: 108
Release: 2005-09-26
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 3832490167

Inhaltsangabe:Abstract: African-American, Chinese-American and Mexican-American female adolescents are representatives of minority groups in the United States. The three groups of ethnic girls were assigned derogative stereotypes by many Euro-American writers who did not portray their characters authentically. The modern female ethnic authors undertake the battle with stereotypes that are the main source of girls problems. They attempt to convince the reader that the lives of young girls cannot be interpreted according to offending images imposed on them. This thesis aims to draw attention to the problems encountered by female ethnic adolescents in Toni Morrison s The Bluest Eye (1970), Maxine Hong Kingston s The Woman Warrior (1976), Sandra Cisneros The House on Mango Street (1984) and to portray their survival or collapse in American society. Each of the books presented in the present study is a masterpiece of great literary value. Toni Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1993. Sandra Cisneros was the winner of the 1985 Before Columbus American Book Award. Maxine Kingston won the National Book Critics Award with The Woman Warrior, which was designated as non-fiction in 1976. All of these books contribute significantly to the study of ethnic female adolescents. The books chosen for the purpose of this thesis portray girls in an adolescent period. The adolescents presented in this study are aged between ten and twenty-one and are socially, economically and politically dependent on their parents or guardians. To further complicate matters, the experiences of girls of colour are more complex than those encountered by white adolescents. As the typical conflicts within the family, problems with gender, sexual development, education and friends are juxtaposed with issues of racism and very often a lower social status. In the light of these facts it does not come as a surprise that many ethnic adolescent girls have problems finding their self . The first section of the initial chapter of this thesis takes into consideration the stereotypical image of Euro-American adolescent girl as it often serves as a contradiction of the popular images of ethnic girls. Furthermore, the chapter examines stereotypes of African-American, Chinese-American and Mexican-American adolescents. Despite their variety, the stereotypes are the cause of girls victimisation in society. The five following chapters analyse the problems more often [...]

Herman Wouk

Herman Wouk
Author: Arnold Beichman
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 145
Release: 2017-07-12
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1351515853

Arnold Beichman's comprehensive study of the writings of Herman Wouk, one of America's leading writers, shows how Wouk's plays and novels exemplify an extraordinary and often highly perceptive preoccupation with American society in war and in peace. Situating Wouk in the same literary tradition as Cervantes, Richardson, Balzac, and Dickens, Beichman demonstrates that Wouk's novels have strong plots, moralist outcomes, and active--essentially positive--characters. The new introduction serves to bring Wouk's work over the past two decades into the reckoning. Making extensive use of Wouk's personal papers and manuscripts as well as personal interviews with him, Beichman's focus is on the social and literary qualities of Wouk's work. In particular, he examines eight novels including War and Remembrance and The Winds of War; The Traitor, one of his three plays; and two moral tracts on Judaism. Wouk has written four more novels, including his latest, A Hole in Texas, his twelfth. Beichman portrays Wouk as one of the few living novelists concerned with virtue, and sees his work as against the mainstream of contemporary American novelists. These, he argues, have eschewed such elements of the traditional novel as invention, coincidences, surprises, suspense, and a moral perspective more presumed than examined.

The American Novel

The American Novel
Author: Donna Lorine Gerstenberger
Publisher:
Total Pages: 478
Release: 1961
Genre: American fiction
ISBN:

Lists selected 20th century criticism of specific novels, general studies and bibliographies of individual authors.

The Cambridge Companion to F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Cambridge Companion to F. Scott Fitzgerald
Author: Michael Nowlin
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 299
Release: 2023-11-30
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1108839967

This book provides an authoritative overview of F. Scott Fitzgerald's fiction and career, featuring essays by leading Fitzgerald specialists.