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Why Are Realistic Young Adult Novels So Bleak?: An WHY ARE REALISTIC YOUNG ADULT NOVELS SO BLEAK?: AN ANALYSIS OF BLEAK REALISM IN A STEP FROM HEAVEN by Lisa Habegger ontemporary realistic young adult novels HI STORICAL OVERVIEW OF THE YA NOVEL are, now more than ever, pushing and In order to gain a better understanding of the expanding the bou ndaries of young adult current status of realistic young adult literature, it is literature. According to Radical Reads: important to examine its origins and development. _G I10 1 YA Novels on the Edge, by Joni Literature written for young adults developed in the Richards Bodart, 'radical young adult fiction deals with United States in the years following World War II. incest, teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, sexual and During this time, the change in the economy offered physical abuse, mental and physical illness, dysfunc­ many teens an increase in economic resources and tional families, homosexuality, gangs, homelessness, social autonomy. This set the stage for the growth of a manipulation, prejudice, suicide, peer pressure, young adult market in the book publishing industry violence, and murder" (xi). These contemporary (Trites 9). realistic novels have been called dark, harsh, gritty and difficult to read. Many feel that they have gone beyond The evolution of young adult novels can be based the range of reality that is appropriate for young adult on the historical concept of the Bildungsroman (Trites readers. Yet many of these books have been highly 10). Bildungsroman, a term of German origin, defines regarded by critics and have won awards in the field of a genre of novels in which an adolescent character matures to adulthood. Entwicklungsroman , a related young adult literature. The authors of these young term, refers to a broader category of novels involving an adult books feel that they are providing a valuable adolescent character that develops and grows. The reading experience for their readers. Many young Bildungsroman is, by nature, a romantic genre with its adults have applauded this genre of books as an optimistic ending of adulthood for the main character improvement to the field. The debates and controver­ (Trites 11). These coming of age novels form the sies surrounding this topic offer an interesting venue fou ndation of young adult literature as we recognize it fo r surveying the field of you ng adult literature at large. today. With this in mind, this paper will offe r a look at the Many historians and critics in the field, including genre of "bleak" realism in young adult literature. After Michael Cart and Margaret Edwards, believe that the an introduction to the history of the YA novel, charac­ field of writing for teenagers was established with the teristics that are uniquely defined in "bleak" books, publication of Maureen Daly's book, Seventeenth uch a , characterization, setting, language, structure Summer, in 1942 (Campbell). This book heralded the and theme, will be thoroughly examined by analyzing beginning of romance literature for teenage girls with one typical example of a "bleak" novel, A Step f rom its theme of first love as a rite-of-passage experience. Heaven. Several issues that have been at the center of Several other authors who followed this path included controversy regarding this genre, such as possible lack Betty Cavanna, Rosamund DuJardin, and Anne Emery of morali ty, a sense of hope, happy endings and the (Cart, Trends 25) . During the 1950's there was a variety concept of reality, will be addressed . In order to better of more boy-oriented books that were published understand the popularity of these books, it will be including themes such as car stories, sports stories, important to look at you ng adult reading preferences career novels, science fiction and adventure stories and impacting issues, such as the influence of contem­ (Cart, Trends 25) . The "squeaky-clean" stories of the porary culture and media. A conclusion can be made 1950's dealt mostly with a narrow range of adolescent that "bleak" novels will continue to offer an avenue for feelings, values and experiences (Carter 9) . One major xploring unsettli ng themes and controversial issues in work that was also published during this time period unconventional ways. was JD. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, published in 34 Indiana Libraries, Vo l. 23, N11mbe1· 2 1951. With loss of innocence as its theme, its publica­ given young adult readers the voic to ay, "Hey I am tion has been cited as one of the turning points in not alone, other people have felt what I feel ', which is young adult literature. Still, it was the liberating "the heart of YA fiction" (Aronson, Exploding the Myths changes and social unrest of the 1960's that would 8). bring about major developments in the field of young In the 1980's, the focus for young adult novels adult literature. spread into broader dimensions and more in depth The 1960's brought about the rise of what has been analysis of characters plots and them s. This focus called "new realism." Writers turned to more serious continued in the 1990's, with novels that featured coming-of-age stories, liberating young adult literature. young adult character that are portrayed as e caping These books were classified as "new realism,"' as the shadowy world of stereotypes being portrayed with opposed to the romanticized stories that had been some dimension, having th ir own problem some­ considered appropriate for children' (Donelson an d times succeeding sometin1es not" (Carter 9). Nilsen 113). According to Michael Cart, the 1960's The most recent tr nd in young adult literature i would be "the decade when literature for adolescents the focus on "bleak" novels. These books tend to focus could be said to come into its own" (Romance 43). The on topics dlat can be unsettling and uncomfortable, novel that marked this change, written in 1967 by S. E. such as rape, murder, sexual and physical abus . Som Hinton, was Tbe Outsiders. Its great success could be of today' top young adult authors are writing these attributed to its introduction of new "real" characters 'sophi ticated, edgy books about is ues that r fleet and the groundbreaking introduction of violence as a today's more complex society and cultur " (Carter 9) . theme in the everyday lives of young adults (Cart, Romance 47). Two other books of great importance CH ARACTERISTICS OF THE "BLEAK" YA NOVEL during this time period include Robert Lipsyte's Tbe Contender, published in 1967, and Paul Zindel's first A look at some of the characteri tics f th s young adult novel, Tbe Pigman, published in 1968. "bleak" novels might help to explain why th se books Authors writing during this time period continued to have been perceived as being "bl ak" and why they expand the range of subject matter addressed in young have been at the center of controversy. Some of th se adult books, until a particularly strong stylistic empha­ characteristics are recognized as unique appr ach s to sis began to develop in the 1970's. typical literary elements, such as characterization, setting, language, structure and d1cme. In ord r to have As the range of subject matter grew to include just a better understanding of how these variou character­ about every possible personal, social and political istics are utilized in a "bleak" book, it might be h lpful young adult problem, the novels began to take on a to examine one book from d1is genr a an xampl . A more didactic emphasis (Carter 9). Michael Cart stated, Step from Heaven, written by An Na and published in "the subject matter too often became the tail that 2001, is a good example of a "bleak" book due to its wagged the dog of the novel - the result being the gritty themes of emotional and physical abuse, alcohol­ appearance and swift ascendancy of what has come to ism and alienation. The author's approach to chara ter­ be called the 'problem novel"' (Romance 64). The ization, setting, language and structure also stablish it "problem novel" has been recognized as a sub-genre of as belonging to d1 is "bleak" genre. young adult realism (Brown 349). Shelia Ego ff has In 1985, Cad1erine Sheldrick Ross examined d1e described novels in this sub-genre as being "very "formula" of young adult realism, which she described strongly subject-oriented with the interest primarily in terms of "culture-specific situations, figures, and residing in the topic rather than in the telling. The settings" (117). Much of what she wrot can be appli d topics - all adult-oriented - sound like chapter titles to describe today's "bleak" young adult novels, even from a textbook on social pathology: divorce, drugs, though many of d1ese books seek to br ak the mold in disappearing parents, desertion, and death" (quoted in certain respects. he suggests that realistic young adult Ross 175). Each "problem novel" centers on one novels have a narrative point of view that is often in th particular problem and often offers the reader a model first person, and these narrators are characters with or method for coping, and even possibly a list of groups whom readers can identify and find to be reliable. Pat to contact for help (Aronson, Coming ofAge). Marc Lowery Collins, in her Jun 2001 ~u·tide presenting tips Aronson made an interesting comparison when he for writers of young adult literature, suggests that stated, "They were very much like the booming adult readers want: industry of self-help and coping books, but generally in the form of a first-person novel" (Coming ofAge) . Even characters to touch and surprise them, to point though "problem novels" have been widely criticized, out possibilities, to explore what they want to they can be credited with at least one important at­ understand or to confirm what they know to be tribute that has laid the fo undation for other forms of true.
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