Comments on: I was a teenage grown-up http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/1610 The daily organ of the Northeast Corridor Social Club Sun, 14 Mar 2010 01:54:33 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Marleyfan http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/1610#comment-49381 Marleyfan Sun, 22 Jul 2007 03:02:03 +0000 http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/1610#comment-49381 My 16 year old son, said he wasn't overly interested this time, to get the newest book. He did go get it at midnight, and stayed up all night reading it... My 16 year old son, said he wasn’t overly interested this time, to get the newest book. He did go get it at midnight, and stayed up all night reading it…

]]> By: Bryan Waterman http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/1610#comment-49378 Bryan Waterman Sat, 21 Jul 2007 20:10:52 +0000 http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/1610#comment-49378 I suppose _Pamela_ might be considered a coming-of-age novel, but it's not like later books more closely tied to the Bildungsroman form, Jane Eyre maybe being the best example. I assume one characteristic is that the protagonist eventually has to enter society? (or run away, as in Huck's case?) The question is to what degree problems peculiar to our concept of adolescence need to come into play: Pamela or Clarissa or Rousseau's Julie all face sexual initiation &/or marriage (in Clarissa's case, rape) as part of the transition to adult womanhood, and so maybe they are closer fits to what we mean by coming-of-age than something like Franklin's autobiography or novels with male protagonists, which really don't dwell, before the late 19c, on the perils of a liminal phase between childhood and adulthood. That's just off the top of my head. I probably haven't given the question enough thought. Charles Brockden Brown's _Arthur Mervyn_ (1799) might be considered a coming of age novel of sorts, I suppose: country kid comes to the city, virtue on trial, etc., eventually comes into his own both as narrator and, we assume, a member of society, right at the novel's close. Jeremy -- I've not read most of Dickens (including Twist): do his characters really "grow up"? What constitute their rites of passage (other than eventually receiving an inheritance)? I can't remember. This sounds like a good question for <a href="http://istherenosininit.wordpress.com/" rel="nofollow">A White Bear</a>. I don't suppose she's lurking on this thread? I suppose _Pamela_ might be considered a coming-of-age novel, but it’s not like later books more closely tied to the Bildungsroman form, Jane Eyre maybe being the best example. I assume one characteristic is that the protagonist eventually has to enter society? (or run away, as in Huck’s case?) The question is to what degree problems peculiar to our concept of adolescence need to come into play: Pamela or Clarissa or Rousseau’s Julie all face sexual initiation &/or marriage (in Clarissa’s case, rape) as part of the transition to adult womanhood, and so maybe they are closer fits to what we mean by coming-of-age than something like Franklin’s autobiography or novels with male protagonists, which really don’t dwell, before the late 19c, on the perils of a liminal phase between childhood and adulthood. That’s just off the top of my head. I probably haven’t given the question enough thought. Charles Brockden Brown’s _Arthur Mervyn_ (1799) might be considered a coming of age novel of sorts, I suppose: country kid comes to the city, virtue on trial, etc., eventually comes into his own both as narrator and, we assume, a member of society, right at the novel’s close.

Jeremy — I’ve not read most of Dickens (including Twist): do his characters really “grow up”? What constitute their rites of passage (other than eventually receiving an inheritance)? I can’t remember.

This sounds like a good question for A White Bear. I don’t suppose she’s lurking on this thread?

]]> By: PB http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/1610#comment-49375 PB Sat, 21 Jul 2007 07:09:27 +0000 http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/1610#comment-49375 #14 - damn, more spoilers. #14 – damn, more spoilers.

]]> By: Scotty http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/1610#comment-49372 Scotty Sat, 21 Jul 2007 00:40:06 +0000 http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/1610#comment-49372 Okay, the following is extremely childish -- I apologize: NPR just reported that while the president undergoes a colonoscopy, the vice president will handle his duties. Okay, the following is extremely childish — I apologize:

NPR just reported that while the president undergoes a colonoscopy, the vice president will handle his duties.

]]> By: PB http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/1610#comment-49367 PB Fri, 20 Jul 2007 20:32:01 +0000 http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/1610#comment-49367 Brilliant! Thank you West Coast Scholars! (8.5 hrs to go - as you can see, I am so totally focused on work today) Brilliant! Thank you West Coast Scholars!

(8.5 hrs to go – as you can see, I am so totally focused on work today)

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