Melancholia and maturation : the use of trauma in American children's literature / Eric L. Tribunella.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tribunella, Eric L.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bildungsromans, American--History and criticism.

Bildungsromans, American.

Children's stories, American--History and criticism.

Children's stories, American.

Loss (Psychology) in literature.

Maturation (Psychology) in literature.

Psychic trauma in literature.

Young adult fiction, American--History and criticism.

Young adult fiction, American.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (201 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Knoxville : University of Tennessee Press, c2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"Coming of age" in children's fiction often means achieving maturity through the experience of trauma. In classics ranging from Old Yeller to The Outsiders, a narrative of psychological pain defies expectations of childhood as a time of innocence and play. In this provocative new book, Eric L. Tribunella explores why trauma, especially the loss of a loved object, occurs in some of the most popular and critically acclaimed twentieth-century American fiction for children.Tribunella draws on queer theory and feminist revisions of Freud's notion of melancholia, which is described a

Contents:

Losing and using queer youth

A boy and his dog

Knowing, unknowing, and the achievement of young adulthood

Melancholic development and Revolutionary War fiction for children

Melancholic sacrifice and the Holocaust in American children's culture

Coda: physical trauma, childhood embodiment, and children's literature.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613098429

9781283098427

1283098423

9781572336896

1572336897

OCLC:

699521261