On YA Dystopias...

[eldritchhobbit]

Psst! Did you know darchildre was reading Icelandic sagas and sharing the recorded narrations? Run, don't walk, to partake of the goodness.

And now, on the subject of YA dystopias...

* From The New York Times: "Our Young-Adult Dystopia" by Michelle Dean. There are some interesting assertions here, especially in the context of Divergent and The Bone Season

Comments

[jan_u_wine]

thank you, Amy!

[eldritchhobbit]

I hope you'll have a great one!

[shiny_elfriend]

That is exactly what I have been thinking. These stories are about individuals revolting against and surviving in spite of efforts to control and diminish them, they are about revolution, and at least the possibility of creating something new from the ashes. We can't really blame novelists for being a bit skeptical about just how great that new thing will be in times like this. Am I wrong in thinking that history supports that this sort of dystopic fiction has tended to appear prior to and during times of social upheaval and are often followed by periods of comparative harmony and prosperity? I'm trying to look at this as a hopeful sign for the future, help me out, here. ;)

[eldritchhobbit]

We can't really blame novelists for being a bit skeptical about just how great that new thing will be in times like this.

Good point!

Am I wrong in thinking that history supports that this sort of dystopic fiction has tended to appear prior to and during times of social upheaval

No, I think you're spot on! That's certainly what it looks like to me.

and are often followed by periods of comparative harmony and prosperity?

Erm, I'm not quite as confident about this, to be honest. I'm working on it. ;)

I'm trying to look at this as a hopeful sign for the future, help me out, here. ;)

LOL! I do think there's good reason to find *some* hope in this trend (the ongoing success of The Hunger Games, for example, strikes me as very positive, given the ideas in the books) -- and in the attention it's drawing, too. There's also an argument that suggests that the trend says a lot more about the writers' generation(s) than the YA audience itself, which raises a whole different set of questions. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around it

[whswhs]

It seems to me that high school students have lived in dystopian societies for a long time now.

Did you ever see a little book called Coming of Age in America, by Edgar Z. Friedenberg? It's a curiously radical work: Friedenberg starts out by saying that high school trains students for adult life by treating all the basic rights of citizens in a democratic society as privileges to be revoked by authority, and ends by calling for the abolition of compulsory education. In between he describes students reactions to six vignettes about life in a fictitious high school ("LeMoyen High School"), including an almost literary one about the son of a wealthy lawyer falling in love with a boy from a lower class background, having the whistle blown on him by a jealous would-be girlfriend (named "Monica St. Loup"!), and having his loss and grief dealt with by ordering him to see a psychiatrist. Friedenberg's commentary is often quite witty. I read it when I was in ninth grade and discovered a lot more depth in it when I came across a copy a few

[eldritchhobbit]

It seems to me that high school students have lived in dystopian societies for a long time now.

Excellent point. (And it's quite possibly getting worse, as you say...)

I haven't seen Coming of Age in America, but wow, it sounds very relevant, not to mention fascinating. I'm definitely going to track down a copy. Thanks so much for the recommendation!

[febobe]

Oooooh, Icelandic sagas! When I can stick around later, I'll go visit. :)

This is one of your best posts ever, IMO. :)

Thanks,
Febobe :)

[eldritchhobbit]

Oh yay! Thanks! *hugs*

[darchildre]

Thanks very much for spreading the link. 8)

[eldritchhobbit]

My pleasure! Thank you for sharing your recordings!