I’ve decided to take this project year-by-year, at least for now. I have arranged the 60-some articles more or less chronologically and am interested in determining the theories they use, their focus (generally either on the works or on pedagogy), and their approximate place on the political spectrum (Far Left, Left, Center Left, Neutral, Center Right, Right, Far Right). The latter is a guess, and I think most pieces of lit crit are going to come out Center Left or Left, due to the liberal bias of literary higher education and as I don’t consider anything Far Left unless it advocates significantly changing the structure of society (e.g., comes from a socialist perspective). For example, Woolston is CL in my estimation because it is generally accepted that women are allowed to write and to be outgoing and assertive, while Brooks and company are L because the empowerment of dark-skinned Black girls requires a little more of mainstream society. You can argue with me on any of these points.
Because of the keywords I used in the search, these articles are limited to theory-focused critical studies of YA books. I make no claims to represent the number or breadth of YA lit crit published in 2010. Of these four works, three would fit into the critical literacy theory, and the other is substantially focused on pedagogy, supporting my past characterizations of YA lit crit (see “A Really Useless Engine“).
Thomas, P. L., Crisp, T., & Knezek, S. M. (2010, Jan). Challenging texts: “Just don’t see myself here”: Challenging conversations about LGBTQ adolescent literature. The English Journal 99(3), pp. 76-79. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/40503487
Theory: Queer, RR
Focus: Works, Ped, Selection
Politics: CL
A study focused on the selection of YA novels about queer characters, “Challenging Texts” by Thomas, Crisp, & Knezek compares two popular choices in the genre. The authors discuss two different representations of gay male characters. One type–that favored by many young heterosexual readers–is a side character whose sexuality is a source of conflict and is defined by a physical act (The Perks of Being a Wallflower). The other–resonating more with queer young people as realistic and aspirational–is the protagonist, for whom being gay is a source of pride and part of their personality (Totally Joe). Selection of this second type provides queer students with literary mirrors and straight students with representations that challenge their limited understanding of queer people.
Soter, A. O., Wilkinson, I. A. G., Connors, S. P., Murphy, P. K., & Shen, V. F-Y. (2010, Jan). Deconstructing “Aesthetic Response” in small-group discussions about literature: A possible solution to the “Aesthetic Response” dilemma. English Education 42(2), pp. 204-225. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/40607962
Theory: RR
Focus: Theory, Ped
Politics: N
“Deconstructing ‘Aesthetic Response'” is primarily concerned with clarifying a disputed aspect of Reader Response Theory. Soter, Wilkinson, Connors, Murphy, & Shen propose adding Expressive responses as a third category to Aesthetic and Efferent, in order to account for purely personal responses that do not make use of the text.
Woolston, J. (2010, Spring/ Summer). Nancy Drew’s body: The case of the autonomous female sleuth. Studies in the Novel 42(1/2), pp. 173-184. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/29533975
Theory: Fem
Focus: Works, Dev, Fem
Politics: CL
Woolston examines Nancy Drew–the books and their creation–through the lens of feminist critic Hélène Cixous. She elevates the series from typical girls’ lit, “devalued and regarded as marginal or peripheral by the literary and education communities” (174), to powerful visions of female adolescent development. At the same time, the series was (is?) an opportunity for women writers when few opportunities existed, and the authors involved made the most of it: “While it is difficult to speculate why these anonymous women wrote regularly under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene–perhaps their motives were more financial than theoretical–the important point to consider is that they wrote and audiences read the works. These women authors were no longer silent, and Nancy as a result, developed into a very vocal and autonomous character” (175).
Brooks, W., Sekayi, D., Savage, L., Waller, E. & Picot, I. (2010, Aug). Narrative significations of contemporary Black girlhood. Research in the Teaching of English 45(1), pp. 7-35. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/25704894
Theory: Black Feminist Epistemological Framework, ICE framework
Focus: Works, Theory, Dev
Politics: L
Brooks, Sekayi, Savage, Waller, and Picot have produced as rigorous a qualitative study as you could ever see on YA literature or anything else, for that matter. Extremely well researched and articulated, “Narrative Significations” was also an important education for me on the strides taken by Black women critics and theorists. Adolescent development and literature would really benefit from more of this making it out of the racial and gendered pocket it comes from into the mainstream. Often, it seems that Black women’s intellectual work is confined to the “Black women” label in the same way that “women in hip hop” (for example) are rarely included in “the best of hip hop” regardless of their talent and innovation. These theories and frameworks have arisen in the context of and are especially applicable to women and girls of color, but the rest of us could learn so much from it if we would take it in without prejudice.
Brooks et al. use two theoretical frameworks to examine five novels about African-American girls, including one by Jacqueline Woodson and another by Nikki Grimes. Black Feminist Epistemological Framework postulates the multiplicative, compounding nature of “multiple intersecting oppressions (i.e., racism, classism, sexism)” and “state[s] that a Black women’s epistemology recognizes this tension between multiple identities and the common challenges, which in turn produces a growing sensibility that Black women, because of their gendered racial identity, may be victimized” (9). In addition, the authors also use the
… identity-focused, cultural, and ecological (ICE) [framework, which] … asserts that identity development is influenced by an adolescent’s exposure to risk and stress, the methods chosen to cope with both, and other strategies utilized to adapt with identity changes within a range of contexts such as educational institutions and within families.
p. 10
Taking the characters “as full insiders who narrate themselves and their communities” (10) rather than as marginalized figures in the context of whiteness, the authors explore their multiple, fluid “enactments of identity” (18) on the intellectual, physical, kinship, and sexual levels.
I’m barely out of the gate, here, and already the summary of this article is too thick. I recommend checking out the article. Join me to review 2011 YA lit crit next … whenever that happens.
Sisyphus in the Stacks 