A Novel of Young Adult Fiction and an Accompanying Exegesis
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Motion: a Novel of Young Adult Fiction and an Accompanying Exegesis By Trina Denner Doctor of Philosophy 2016 Abstract This practice-led PhD is comprised of a Young Adult Fiction (YAF) novel entitled Motion, and an accompanying exegesis. The artefact is set in contemporary times, following the journey of a 16 year old girl with a passion for running who is determined to find a place for herself in a world of poverty and domestic violence. The two together examine the ways in which an author employs discourse and technique during the creative journey and the resulting impact of these choices upon a work of fiction. This project reports the evolution of these two components of research, detailing the challenges and inspirations that have come about through the continuous interchange between creative practice and academic investigation. Central to the project is how meaning is made through the combination of various narratological techniques and how authorial choices take form within a genre aimed at the adolescent reader. Young adult culture has, and continues to, undergo significant change due to the increasingly global, digital, and participatory nature of society. This research aims to capture and explore the changing world of young adults and their experiences in a meaningful way. It attempts to answer the question of the relevancy of fiction for adolescents within this culture, and the role it can play in identify formation and support for teenagers. Within this overarching exploration lies the issue of the female teenage experience, specifically, how the ways in which girls relate to sport is changing and how this shift can be represented through fiction. Alongside this is a discussion of the capacity of YAF to act as a platform for investigation into controversial issues, such as violence and poverty, in narrative form, and questions how representations and stereotyping can both add to and detract from story writing. The project takes a Practice Led Research (PLR) methodological approach, recognisng issues and ideas arising from practice and responding with an exploration into existing academic discourse to find solutions to writerly questions. This project began with a story idea and developed through planning and writing a resultant novel, together with a study of the YAF genre and the practices of writing by academics and authors. In this way, it uses creative process and scholarly research to generate further knowledge relating to the artefact. Within this PLR framework, the project accesses new scholarly insights through the application of theoretical lenses, using them to reflect upon practice and academic inquiry. The artefact and exegesis are explored using gender theories as a frame, including feminist standpoint theories (FST) and Social Dominance Theory (SDT), both of which open up the project’s discussion of the ways girls coincide with modern western society and the consequences of such. ! "! Acknowledgments My inexpressible thanks goes to Mark Denner, Mackenzie Denner, Emerson Denner and Boston Denner for their unwavering support, understanding, and belief. I also respectfully thank Carolyn Beasley and Josie Arnold for their insight, patience, encouragement, and willingness to challenge me to reach higher at every turn. ! #! Declaration I certify that the thesis entitled ‘Motion: a Novel of Young Adult Fiction and an Accompanying Exegesis’ submitted for the degree of PhD contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma; to the best of my knowledge contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the text; and is not based on joint research or publications. Full name: Trina Denner Signed:……………………………………………………………. Date:……………………………………………………………… ! $! Table of Contents 1. Artefact – Motion …………………………………………………………… 7 2. Exegesis – Writing Young Adult Fiction ………………………………….. 227 I. Positioning the Exegesis …………………………………………. 228 i. Aim of Project ……………………………………………… 228 ii. Applying Theories to Practice ……………………………… 229 iii. Representations and Stereotyping ………………………….. 230 iv. Making Meaning …………………………………………… 230 v. Navigating Controversial Issues in YAF …………………... 231 vi. Girls and Sport ……………………………………………... 232 vii. In Summary ………………………………………………… 233 II. Methodology ……………………………………………………... 234 i. Exegetical Methodology …………………………………… 234 ii. How Does Creative Work Lead to Data for Scholarship? … 235 iii. Creative Methodology ……………………………………... 235 iv. The Snowflake Method and PLR ………………………….. 237 v. Diversity of Technique ……………………………………. 248 III. Applying Theories to Practice …………………………………. 240 i. Feminism – Commonality of Thought? …………………... 240 ii. Feminist Standpoint Theories …………………………….. 242 iii. Social Hierarchy/Social Dominance Theory ……………… 243 iv. Bambi as an Outsider Within …………………………….... 244 v. Girls ‘Doing Girl’ ………………………………………….. 245 vi. The Individual or the Group? ………………………………. 247 IV. Representations and Stereotypes ………………………………… 249 i. Using Gender Theories as a Frame …………………………. 249 ii. Representations ………………………………………………. 250 iii. Character Portrayals and Stereotypes ………………………… 250 iv. Writing an Abusive Father Character ………………………… 253 v. Figuring Forth Characters ……………………………………. 254 vi. Violence – Why is it a Male Issue? ………………………….. 256 ! %! vii. The Role of Patriarchy ………………………………………. 257 viii. Domestic (Family) Violence …………………………………. 258 ix. Violence in the Novel ………………………………………… 259 x. To introduce Mental illness? …………………………………. 260 xi. Male Power and Agency ……………………………………… 261 V. Making Meaning …………………………………………………… 265 i. Voice in YAF Narratives …………………………………….. 265 ii. Relevance and the Generational Gap ………………………… 266 iii. Voice and Imagery …………………………………………… 268 iv. Narrative Intimacy and Point of View ………………………. 269 v. Narrative Space and the Question of Current Youth Culture ... 270 VI. Navigating Controversial Issues in YAF …………………………. 275 i. The Ideal Reader ……………………………………………… 276 ii. Are There Limits? …………………………………………….. 277 iii. Representing the Experience of Poverty ……………………… 278 iv. Writing Violence ……………………………………………… 281 v. When is it ‘Too Much’? ………………………………………. 284 VII. Girls and Sport ……………………………………………………… 288 i. Empowerment Through Sport ………………………………… 288 ii. How Adolescents Understand Gender and Sport ……………... 289 iii. ‘The Sporty Girl’ ……………………………………………… 292 iv. Girls Can Sweat, But They Must Remain Beautiful ………….. 294 v. Media Influence on Teens …………………………………….. 296 vi. Can Bambi be Sporty and Girlie? ……………………………... 296 vii. Adolescent Self-Acceptance and Esteem ……………………… 298 VIII. Conclusion …………………………………………………………… 301 3. References ………………………………………………………………………. 304 ! &! Motion Trina Denner ! '! Prologue Bambi crashed blindly through the under-scrub of Hannigan’s paddock, dodging the very darkest patches of shadow. She ran as fast as her legs would go but she urged them on, faster still. The storm at her back was real. And imagined. Either way, it drove her forward. Her muscles screamed but she kept moving, ignoring the fire in her lungs, through the clawing twigs that were invisible in the shadows of evening. Momentum. It kept her moving forward and away. If only she could get far enough away. She didn’t stop when she reached the lip of the dam. She couldn’t. Her motion dragged her on and her legs breached the water. She sucked in her breath. It was cold. She couldn’t see its brown murkiness but she knew it was there; felt it bleeding between her toes. It lapped around her thighs, heavying her dress. She dived in. The filthy water washed over her, rippling in recognition. The dam was her sister, together in their resignation. Rain fell, quietly dragging dirt with it into the dam. Bambi broke the surface of the water and rolled onto her back. Spread-eagled. Clothed. Eyes wide to the night sky. Was she born like this, with dirt under her nails and a greasy film coating her skin? Had she ever been free of it? She suspected not. She couldn’t remember feeling new. Bambi opened her mouth to the rain hitting her face and caught the drops with her tongue. They slid down into the secrecy of her insides. The storm was arriving, seemingly just beyond her arm’s reach. The clouds churned with rain and fury but silence filled her ears, punctuated by her pounding heart. The small circle of her face was the only part not swallowed by the water. Her hair hung in weightless strings beneath and around, her open mouth only centimetres away from drawing in liquid instead of air. Ice-blue lightning lit the sky with its jagged bolts. She blinked slowly, blurring the dark and the light together. Bambi let the forces of nature find equilibrium. Her legs were sinking ever so slowly. She wondered if there was enough buoyancy in her body to keep her up. Did she have what it took to float? Did it really matter if she didn’t? The dirty water pulled at her legs, wanting to drag her under. Stars twinkled and winked from above Bambi, the not-quite girl, not-quite-woman floating on Hannigan’s dam. Something brushed her leg. Probably an eel. She didn’t move. She’d known worse things than that. ! (! 1. She peered through the shop window, angling herself behind the wall so it hid most of her skinny body. The glass was cool against her cheek and a clump of hair hung across her eye crowding her view, but she did not raise her hand to push it aside. She leant unmoving. A gaggle of women stood gossiping inside. She knew them, of course, which was just one of the crappy things about a small town. Everyone’s