It’s not uncommon to see a 30-something with a copy of Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, or, more recently, teenage-romance-novel-turned-film The Fault in Our Stars in their hands, an editorial in the National Post laments. Young Adult fiction, or YA, is purchased mostly by people over 18, apparently. (One commenter jabs that this probably includes predominantly females, but I don’t know – 20-something males and comic books, anyone?)
Why are adults fanatically reading novels intended for children? Is this another symptom of prolonged adolescence? Of a dumbing down of our culture? A decline of the classics? A decline in literacy? I don’t know that I buy the first reason, because I’ve heard even mothers in their forties accompanied their daughters to see Twilight in theatres. I think there is something exceptionally titillating about the idealistic, swoon-inducing romance of both the teenage and harlequin variety, but that doesn’t explain Harry Potter. Or comic books.
There’s nothing wrong, of course, with reading an occasional YA novel, as Graham from the Post points out. I read the first Twilight book in German to practice the language (it’s right at my level – which doesn’t say much for my German!). The concern arises when adults are reading nothing else and thus missing out on the classics – or at least contemporary adult literature (which I am not especially a fan of).
Graham also asks another important question. Why are so many young adults reading Young Adult fiction? Isn’t it more exciting to peep into a so-called “grown-up” book? Why does YA even exist as a genre? When I was twelve years old I read Pride and Prejudice for the first time, and after that awakening into the world of the classics I wanted little to do with YA fiction. It all paled in comparison to the knowledge of the world bound up in an “adult” novel. We all desire to grow up, don’t we?
Did you read YA growing up? How important do you think classics and adult fiction is in shaping the minds of young people? Do you think middle- and high-school-aged children should read popular YA for novel studies in school, as is commonly the case? Why do you think adults choose to read YA regularly? Leave your thoughts below.
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This fascinating post & discussion arouse so many different thoughts in my mind that I hardly know which direction to go.
1. Most of what I feel inclined to say about YA novels I feel equally inclined to say about “old adult” novels. Glancing through what’s on sale in bookshops for ANY age group, the vast bulk of it seems to me so horribly “dumbed down” (in both wording & thought) that I don’t feel the slightest temptation to read past the first couple of paragraphs. I’d feel embarrassed to be seen reading any of it.
2. Conversely the very, VERY few YA classics seem to me every bit as substantial as the very, VERY few “old adult” classics. To take an example from the Victorian era, consider Marryat’s Children of the New Forest. From whatever angle I examine that book… characterization, plot construction, management of narrative… above all, depth & subtlety of thematic material… I can’t honestly see that it stands one iota less tall than (say) The Heart of Midlothian, Mansfield Park, Bleak House, Henry Esmond, Wives & Daughters, or The Prime Minister (Trollope). Books like those rise so far above me, that I don’t feel at all inclined to say that one is higher than another.
3. Indeed, in the UK during the period approximately 1910-1960, I feel that substantially more good fiction was written for the 8-to-13 age group than for older age groups. Even the very best adult novels of that place & period seem to me slightly shallow & tinny compared with the remarkable complexity, sophistication, & profundity of (say) C. S. Lewis’s Narnia series, Elsie Oxenham’s Abbey series & its “connectors,” Noel Streatfeild’s performing arts novels & Bell Family, Dorita Fairlie Bruce’s postwar Colmskirk novels (Serendipity Shop, Triffeny, Bees on Drumwhinnie), and Arthur Ransome’s Swallows & Amazons series. (That list is confined to writers whose work contains explicit affirmations of faith in Christ… and it could easily be extended without going beyond those bounds.) I suspect this happened (a) because there were different social expectations for YA novels, and (b) because good writers naturally gravitate to fields where exceptionally exciting & innovative work is already being done. (Why did so many good writers of Shakespeare’s era write plays? Why did so many good writers of Dickens’s era write novels?)
4. I wouldn’t say exactly the same of the USA, where social expectations during the early 20th century were different. But even so, I find myself wondering how many illustrious prizewinning American adult novels of the period can stand comparison with (say) Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series, already mentioned in this discussion.
5. I can appreciate that someone as intelligent and quick-on-the-uptake as yourself, Nadine, might have absorbed everything you needed from YA literature by the age of 12. But a slower-witted, slower-maturing (or even non-maturing) person like myself would have missed much of the significance of YA (and even younger-than-YA) classics if I’d stopped reading them at that age. The extreme cases here are Lewis Carroll’s Alice books. I’m positive that if I’d stopped reading them at the age of 12, I would have appreciated only about 10% of what I now see in them. (But remember, in all these things I’m speaking only about the very few timeless classics in the field.)
I think it’s good to encourage teenagers to read anything! I think the main problem is getting teenagers to read, so if they prefer twilight they should go for it! But if they do want to go for maybe a heavier adult read they should go for it. As for adults reading more teen fiction I think maybe it cries out that what is labelled teen fiction is really aimed at a wider audience 🙂 There shouldn’t be limitations. For example little women and Anne of green gables are probably more for younger children but they are also classics enjoyed by older people too. Anyway I also want to say sorry that I haven’t commented for ages! I hope you are well 🙂
I agree that any reading is better than nothing, but I think it’s good to expose teens to a wide variety of literature, including more challenging texts than Twilight. Anne of Green Gables is a dear favourite of mine too but compared to a novel like Twilight, Anne of Green Gables is miles higher in terms of intellect, complexity and maturity. Even in terms of vocabulary, sentence structure and narrative elements, Twilight and Anne just do not compare (Twilight actually contains quite poor writing). I think that the Anne books have qualities to them that appeal to all ages (and indeed, they include characters of all ages), whereas Twilight, for example, is exclusively about teenage drama exclusively from a teenage perspective.
Thanks so much for commenting and sharing your opinion. 🙂
Hmm… As an adult I don’t recall reading any YA fiction (except for the Laura Ingalls Wilder series I loved as a youth).
That being said, I don’t think it should be anyone else’s concern regarding what genre of literature one chooses to read.
I’m just interested in cultural trends, that’s all.
I enjoyed the Wilder series too, thanks for reminding me of that great classic. I definitely don’t see adults walking around reading that one too often! Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Hey Nadine, nice post, good thoughts here. I read very little YA growing up, and tended to read more classics than anything else. As for reading YA in school I’m not a big fan of it.
First, students miss out learning about the history and culture of the past. Also, they do not learn to appreciate art. Appreciation is a key to loving learning and knowledge, and is different from liking something. I may not like Shakespeare (yes I know, I’m missing out), but I certainly do appreciate him and what he has done for literature. Finally, modern YA does not aid students in improving their spelling, writing, and grammar skills like classics since YA does not have the breadth of vocabulary present in most classics.
Classics inspire like most genres of literature cannot, and while I do not discourage kids from reading some modern YA, I believe they must first get a taste of the past. This should always be instilled to them by parents so that they can appreciate art and grow as individuals. Plus they can get a great new hobby started 🙂
Jeremy
Great thoughts, Jeremy! I agree fully.