Teen Angst and the Making of Young Adult Fiction
By: Keith
Sometimes I have nothing better to do with my time than to peruse the shelves at my local/national chain bookstore. Today I spoiled myself and sat in the cafe area drinking a cappuccino reading Success magazine. Gillian Michaels was on the cover and I couldn’t resist the urge to find new source material for ridicule (even though she’s fabulously wealthy and I live in a condo). I digress. The cafe sits adjacent to the young adult books and I began reading the titles on the shelves. I didn’t realize Twilight is considered a Young Adult book; every man I know has a wife who is smitten with either Edward or Jake. Apparently teenage girls and middle aged housewives are more similar than I thought. There was also, in addition to the shelves, an obligatory whole table dedicated to the Twilight series; it included useless Edward trinkets, useless New Moon handbags, useless figurines (of Edward and Jake) and not useless, but very embarrassing, bookmarks – and a few books.
The Art of Rhetoric and the Trouble of Youth
Every age has its faults. However, Aristotle believed that middle age is the best out of the three stages of life, old age, middle age and youth. We who are approaching middle age have enough to look forward to that we’re still hopeful and have ambition. We also have experience and logic, gathered from life, to guide our passions. Aristotle thought the failings of youth lie in their inability to use logic. With their lives spread before them and nothing behind them, the youth are filled with dreams. Their lack of experience makes them naïve. Aristotle was right, and that’s why teen fiction is nothing but mysticism, mythical beasts and too much passion. There’s no logic, only feeling. What’s harder to explain is why middle aged women are also entranced by the fiction. Perhaps our relatively soft society has shielded some of these women from the experiences that would have been helpful in dispelling fanciful dreams. Somewhere in the recesses of their minds these older Twilight fans are imagining themselves entwined in a passionate affair with immortal teenage sparkly people. I think they’re still teenagers at heart which albeit deranged isn’t totally horrible.
“They disobey Chilon’s precept by overdoing everything, they love too much and hate too much, and the same thing with everything else. They think they know everything, and are always quite sure about it; this, in fact, is why they overdo everything. If they do wrong to others, it is because they mean to insult them, not to do them actual harm. They are ready to pity others, because they think everyone an honest man, or anyhow better than he is: they judge their neighbor by their own harmless natures, and so cannot think he deserves to be treated in that way. They are fond of fun and therefore witty, wit being well-bred insolence.” Aristotle – The Art of Rhetoric
A Guide to Teen Fiction:
It’s simple. Teen fiction isn’t written for teen boys. It’s written for a psychologically frail, yet literate, teen girl audience. Go look for yourself. Almost every book in the section is something about Vampires, Werewolves, Witches (but not warlocks) or Angles. Just for giggles I wrote down some of the titles:
Witch Season, Fragile Eternity, Wicked 2, Vampire Academy, Vampire Diaries, The Vampire’s Assistant, Eternal, Thirst, Fang, Wolf Island
I stopped taking notes after Wolf Island but it went on like that for the entire section. There were a few sweet looking, less freaky, books, but these were buried behind the massive hardcovers of these supernatural atrocities.
Should I Worry?
There’s nothing wrong with having dreams and spending time in fantasy. I don’t actually have a problem with the Twilight books for teenage girls because that’s what teenage girls are all about. But I am a little worried that the section seems to exclude books for boys. With every book geared towards girls, I wonder what teenage boys are reading. I read a lot of science fiction when I was a teenager so I’m assuming not much has changed. Thus, if the science fiction section is where boys go to get books and the young adult section is where teenage girls and middle age women go for reading material? What’s the point of a young adult section at all? They should call it the female fantasy fiction section. The bottom line is that I’m not worried about the direction of youth. They are the same now as they were in Aristotle’s time. I’m just a little worried that I’m competing for wifely attention with a fictional, impossibly hansom, sparkly vampire.
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Actuallllyyyyyyyy.. All the Twilight Saga books are in my room.. But I haven’t read them.. My mom has.. and she’s 35! lol. And she’s a Nurse. She’d come home from work in the mornings, read, sleep, and when I got home she’d tell me about how Edward and Bella had a child.. HAHA
Kody: Your mom and I are the same age!
I consider this to be teen porn– I’ve seen articles on how the New Moon stuff is for middle age women who secretly (or not so secretly) have sexual attraction to that kid you posted– Robert what’s his face.
Keith, unless your wife is an idiot… and I’m thinking not… she doesn’t want a vampire. Sprakly or not. And being middle aged doesn’t mean women stop admiring the look of a well formed younger man (or reading about one) any more than middle aged men stop looking at cheerleaders when attending their son’s football games. I mean, sorry to burst any bubbles, but we’re human too. As for the sappiness, yeah, I guess women go for sappy love stories with slightly dangerous men sometimes. We get so little of it in reality. For boys, whatever happened to Harry Potter? Those have been my personal young adult book faves since they were first copyrighted. The Twilight series is so poorly written I nearly ripped pages out of the first novel. I thought if one of the characters eye rolled again, I would scream. Though the story itself was interesting, OH MY GOD where was her editor? Out to lunch apparently. Not all women like stories about weak female characters. It’s just that sometimes women really are weak and sometimes men really are weak. It depends on the genre. I personally like books where both male and female characters show vulnerability as well as strength. Enough. Thanks. Good post.
Beth: If middle aged men were this crazy about a book who’s main sexy character was a teenage girl I think it would be more than a little creepy
Twilight gets away with it because Edward is “immortal”. It’s still the same thing. Just sayin’
Bring on the hate messages, but I can’t stand Twilights. Read the 1st two books because my friend told me how much she loves it. I consider myself a hopeless romantic but I find the author’s description for the main character’s love to be too sickeningly…ummm…sappy. But the series sell like wild fire. Why didn’t I think of that?
Pear: I read all 4 of them and I’ve gotta say I got really tired of the same repetitive sappy descriptions for everything. I kept trying to skim ahead to the action parts because there was waaaay too much useless crap in between. The love story is just dumb because it’s so blatantly pandering to what women want. No wonder women got hooked.
These teenage sparkly people have nothing on Sean Connery!! Some women want men– not boys.
Well, I never thought about the YA books being primarily for girls but … you could be on to something! Of course, I once was a teen-aged girl, and I have/had three teen-age girls (2 are in their 20s), so I guess it never struck me. Never read “Twilight,” but the girls all have. Maybe boys, as you said, read SF and … I don’t know graphic novels and comic books! I enjoy some YA quite a bit — currently reading (per rec of one of the aforementioned daughters) Her Mother’s Diary by David Curry Kahn. It features a teen-aged girl but is also features an elderly man — something for the guys! And since it’s suspenseful, too, and also involves drug lords after the teen girl, I think boys will enjoy it as well. Everyone likes an exciting plot. And the message, if you want to call it that, about being persistent, about believing in yourself, crosses the gender line.
.-= Liz´s last blog ..lizreads: Off to see daughter in one-act play today! =-.
I think the best point that you raised, was that there are VERY VERY FEW books for boys!!! Now that I am homeschooling, I am realizing that the “required reading lists” for public/private schools are fully geared towards GIRLS!!!
So, we are skipping the list! Onto reading non-fictional learning materials, which will enhance their knowledge and not waste their time anyways.
I hope boys will like this also –
Paradox – The Angels Are Here
Synopsis
Strange occurrences have always been commonplace in Grace Connors world. However, with the arrival of Riley – an Angel, and a member of the ‘in crowd’ – an elite group of students that are just too beautiful, followed by the gruesome murders of three classmates, things start to get a lot stranger.
Grace learns that a battle, that began in 1080 AD – over a thousand years ago in the Imperial city of Altair, is threatening not only her life and the lives of those she loves, but the survival of the human race.
During the years between 2013 AD and 2020 AD, it is prophesied – in an ancient text, The Tree Of Life – that the human race will begin its fall into oblivion. A string of eclipses across the world, it is written, will announce the beginning of the apocalypse. Should Grace fail in her race against time, the catastrophic wrath of The Elements – Air, Water, Fire and earth will consume mankind.
Grace must find a missing girl who holds the key to humanities survival. However, the clock is ticking, and in order to save the world, Grace must find herself first. Success lies in the hands of the Angels. However, her deadly adversaries, those who will stop at nothing to see her fail, also lie in the hands of Angels.
Paradox – The Angels Are Here.
.-= patti´s last blog ..Chapter 6 – The Music Box =-.
If you want teen fiction that cuts through all that bilge you rightly complain about, take a look at my latest release, Angela 1: Starting Over, the first in a series of three set in a coastal Texas high school. I don’t know if this is the kind of thing you would like, but I would like to know your opinion. Just visit my website and search my name on YouTube. Thanks!
It is scary how much of YA fiction is about romance, and its utter importance. Kind of a mixed message in a culture were half of marriages don’t survive. I just found a really great YA book, for the same demographic, called Her Mother’s Diary, that focuses on individual growth and coping with problems in a way that is realistic. A much better lessi for teen girls then Bella and Edward.
I’m a teenager and I’m not into vampires, witches, or werewolves. My friend tried to get me to finish the Twilight Saga. I was able to get to page 75 on Breaking Dawn, quite an acomplishment for me. Right now I’m into fantasy, but the books I read have to have action, mystery, and very little of romance, if not any. So, not all teenage girls are into the mushy sappy sparkly vampires.
Ruby: You are definitely correct. I wouldn’t want to say all girls are into that sort of thing. Thanks for dropping in and commenting.