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Textual Bodies in Young Adult Literature

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Textual Bodies in Young Adult Literature Textual Bodies in Young Adult Literature By Tanya Kiermaier An exegesis submitted in conjunction with a creative component, a young adult novel, Demolition, for fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Communication at the University of Canberra February 2015 Acknowledgements The world has changed much since I began this exploration, but what has not changed, and indeed what has enabled the transformation of ideas, words and sentences into a meaningful whole, is the steadfast support of my family, friends and colleagues. My special thanks to Associate Professor Jordan Williams for believing in me and for your wisdom and advice on so many levels. Thanks to Distinguished Professor Jen Webb for your many philosophical and intellectual insights, to Associate Professor Tony Eaton for your guidance and encouragement and to Emeritus Professor Belle Alderman for your support in starting me on this path. Thanks to my children, Tim, Sarah and Ben, for rekindling the fire for my reading of children’s and young adult literature and inspiring me with your sense of fun and the twists and turns of growing up. To Lynn, your friendship, kindness and support for me and my family has never wavered and is my source of strength. To my mother Meg, and to all my many other friends and family, and my book club friends, you have all contributed to this journey in many ways. Thank you for always being there, for your enthusiasm for my endeavour, and for keeping my views on life fresh and invigorating. Dad, Max (sr) and Jean, I wish you could have been here for this. To Max, you make my life whole, and you made this thesis possible. Thank you for letting me be myself. v Contents Certificate of Authorship of Thesis ............................................................................. iii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... v Contents ...................................................................................................................... vii Abstract ........................................................................................................................ xi Introduction – The Art of growing up ...................................................................... xiii Research question and aims of research ...................................................... xiv Significance of study ....................................................................................... xv Children’s literature and other key concepts .............................................. xvii The Shape of the dissertation ...................................................................... xxv Exegesis ....................................................................................................... xxvi Novel ............................................................................................................. xxx Creative practice method ............................................................................. xxx Textual analysis .........................................................................................xxxiii Chapter 1 – Texts, writers, readers ............................................................................. 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 Childhood, innocence and inviolability ............................................................. 2 A Question of space ........................................................................................ 12 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 25 Chapter 2 - The Body in young adult literature ..................................................... 29 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 29 Sex/uality ......................................................................................................... 30 The Body and gender ...................................................................................... 48 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 55 Chapter 3 – Finding bodies in the Australian landscape .................................... 59 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 59 Being-in-the-world ........................................................................................ 59 Place and Australian young adult fiction ........................................................ 64 The Body, nature and emotion ....................................................................... 68 vii The Body, place and power ............................................................................ 70 The Body and the beach ................................................................................. 78 The Beach........................................................................................................ 79 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 84 Chapter 4 – Embodied connections ...................................................................... 85 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 85 Perception ........................................................................................................ 86 Camouflage ...................................................................................................... 94 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 104 Conclusion – Textual bodies: the creative practice of writing the adolescent body ........................................................................................................................... 105 Representing adolescence ............................................................................ 105 Embodied writing........................................................................................... 112 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 116 Works cited ................................................................................................................ 121 Demolition: a novel .................................................................................................. 129 CHAPTER 1 ................................................................................................................. 135 CHAPTER 2 ................................................................................................................. 141 CHAPTER 3 ................................................................................................................. 149 CHAPTER 4 ................................................................................................................. 157 CHAPTER 5 ................................................................................................................. 161 CHAPTER 6 ................................................................................................................. 179 CHAPTER 7 ................................................................................................................. 193 CHAPTER 8 ................................................................................................................. 197 CHAPTER 9 ................................................................................................................. 205 CHAPTER 10 ............................................................................................................... 209 CHAPTER 11 ............................................................................................................... 225 CHAPTER 12 ............................................................................................................... 233 CHAPTER 13 ............................................................................................................... 241 CHAPTER 14 ............................................................................................................... 253 CHAPTER 15 ............................................................................................................... 257 viii CHAPTER 16 ............................................................................................................... 265 CHAPTER 17 ............................................................................................................... 279 CHAPTER 18 ............................................................................................................... 289 CHAPTER 19 ............................................................................................................... 297 CHAPTER 20 ............................................................................................................... 323 CHAPTER 21 ............................................................................................................... 333 ix Abstract Young adult literature occupies a liminal space – not quite children’s literature, not quite adult literature. It has been seen as a mid-way point on the way to reading adult literature. Adolescence can be seen as
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