gsandler writes “Here is a provocative essay at Slate
on contemporary Young Adult fiction. "The real trouble with such issues-oriented contemporary fiction is that it encourages what you might call (in Jeanne Kirkpatrick style) literary equivalence: The genre, as teachers have discovered with the help of accompanying guides, lends itself to trendy and tidy didacticism. And so the books can end up as assigned reading for older kids precisely when these students deserve to be discovering the difference between real literature and the melodramatic fictional equivalent of an Afterschool Special."
“
dupe?h tml
http://books.lisnews.com/Books/05/06/17/0617257.s
— Ender, Duke_of_URL
Undesirable label
In my YA lit class, we were to choose a “problem” novel. I chose a book by my friend Jim Bennett, I Can Hear the Mourning Dove and he was a bit steamed that I would characterize the book as a “problem novel.” Apparently, unless you are specfically writing that genre, it’s a rather perjorative term. Jim set me straight–“Dove” and (most of) his other works transcend the genre.
“Mourning Dove” is a really sensitive, well-written treatment of adolescent depression. The setting might be a bit dated, but for any teen who gets hit with clinical, unipolar depression, or who has a sibling with mental illness, it provides a credible, informed look inside the head of someone dealing with it.
The other thing I’ve learned from Jim is how little support authors get, unless they are superstars. He’s had several critically acclaimed YA books, but has never had much support for publicity and such. Sadly, he’s given up the YA market, due to lack of support.
Re:dupe?
Thanks, Ender. Will delete posting w/o comments.