Kommentar |
Coming-of-age narratives depict the challenges of children and young adults during a formative phase of their lives. According to Sarah Graham, such narratives “offer privileged access to the psychological development of the central character whose sense of self is in flux, paralleling personal concerns with prevailing values.” We will discuss the genre history of coming-of-age texts and of the Bildungsroman tradition, a highly relevant one in the North American context, and gain an understanding of how themes such as individuality, family, school, friendship, sexuality, and career choices are frequently of relevance. Coming-of-age texts have also become crucial in representing the experience of (post-)colonial or female marginalization and of undermining normative social structures. A reader with a variety of American and Canadian stories and excerpts will be provided in Moodle at the beginning of classes. |