Disturbing the Universe: Power and Repression in Adolescent Literature

209 Pages·2000·0.76 MB·English

by  Roberta Seelinger Trites

D i s t u r b i n g
t h e u n i v e r s e

D i s t u r b i n g
the Universe
p o w e r a n d r e p r e s s i o n i n
a d o l e s c e n t l i t e r at u r e
by Roberta Seelinger Trites
university of iowa press IowaCity
UniversityofIowaPress,IowaCity52242
Copyright(cid:1)2000bytheUniversityofIowaPress
Allrightsreserved
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
DesignbyRichardHendel
http://www.uiowa.edu/(cid:1)uipress
Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedorusedinany
formorbyanymeans,withoutpermissioninwriting
fromthepublisher.Allreasonablestepshavebeentaken
tocontactcopyrightholdersofmaterialusedinthis
book.Thepublisherwouldbepleasedtomakesuitable
arrangementswithanywhomithasnotbeenpossibleto
reach.
Portionsofchapter4firstappearedas‘‘QueerDiscourse
andtheYoungAdultNovel:RepressionandPowerinGay
MaleAdolescentLiterature,’’Children’sLiteratureQuarterly
23(1998):143–151.Reprintedwithpermissionofthe
Children’sLiteratureAssociation.
Portionsofchapter5firstappearedas‘‘Narrative
Resolution:PhotographyinAdolescentLiterature,’’
Children’sLiterature,27.NewHaven:YaleUP,1999.129–
149.ReprintedwithpermissionofYaleUniversityPress.
Thepublicationofthisbookwasgenerouslysupportedby
theUniversityofIowaFoundation.
Printedonacid-freepaper
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Trites,RobertaSeelinger,1962–
Disturbingtheuniverse:powerandrepressionin
adolescentliterature/byRobertaSeelingerTrites.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn0-87745-732-8(cloth)
1.Youngadultfiction,American—Historyand
criticism. 2.Adolescenceinliterature.
3.Postmodernism(Literature)—UnitedStates. 4.Power
(Socialsciences)inliterature. 5.Repression(Psychology)
inliterature. 6.Teenagers—Booksandreading. I.Title.
ps374.a3t75 2000
813.009(cid:2)9283—dc21
00-037422
00 01 02 03 04 c 5 4 3 2 1
ForGeorgeMajor,withlove

Contents
Preface,ix
Chapter1
‘‘DoIdaredisturbtheuniverse?’’
AdolescentLiteratureinthePostmodernEra,1
Chapter2
‘‘Idon’tknowthewords’’
InstitutionalDiscoursesinAdolescentLiterature,21
Chapter3
‘‘Maybethatiswriting,changingthingsaroundanddisguisingthefor-real’’
TheParadoxofAuthorityinAdolescentLiterature,54
Chapter4
‘‘AllofasuddenIcame’’
SexandPowerinAdolescentNovels,84
Chapter5
‘‘WhenIcancontrolthefocus’’
DeathandNarrativeResolutioninAdolescentLiterature,117
Chapter6
Conclusion
ThePoststructuralPedagogyofAdolescentLiterature,142
Notes,153
Bibliography,163
Index,177

Preface
I
remember complaining to a friend in 1975 that I wastired
of reading the books in our middle school library because
‘‘they’re all about kids with problems.’’ Maybe with that
succinctanalysisofthe1970sproblemnovel,Idamnedmy-
self to a lifetime of studying adolescent literature. In any event,
tryingtounderstandthegenreasawholewascertainlypartofmy
motivationfortakingacollegecourseonthesubjectin1980.The
teacher,DorothyVanRiper,commentedatthetimeontheinade-
quacyofcriticalmaterialsinthefield.Anotherprofessor,LilianR.
Furst, mentioned the same problem in a graduate seminar I had
in 1984 (a seminar in which I was regarded as the resident field
expert, having only recovered from adolescence the week before
the course started). By the time I was safely past adolescence in
1992,aseniorcolleagueofmine—TaimiRanta—raisedthesame
concern about the dearth of criticism in the field. Since I have
been thinking about these issues so long, it seems fairto saythat
thisbookhasbeentwenty-fiveyearsinthemaking.
I did not reach any real breakthrough in understanding the
genre,however,untilIbeganteachingthecoursemyselfin1994.
From my own studies, I had expected to find many rites of pas-
sage and initiations, patterns of growth, conflicts, Oedipalcrises,
confessional first-person narrators, and identity crises. But as I
taught the course, I began noticing other recurring patterns in
these books, some of which seemed predictable and others that
did not. Books for adolescents are subversive—but sometimes
onlysuperficiallyso.Infact,theyareoftenquitedidactic;thede-
nouementsofmanyYoungAdultnovelscontainadirectmessage
aboutwhatthenarratorhaslearned.Moreover,booksforadoles-
centshavelotsofsex.Andmanydreadfulparents.Manyphotog-
raphers. Many schools. Many dead bodies. (In a course that in-