So as everyone and their cousin has been linking to and commenting about, Mark over at The Elegant Variation has started quite the discussion on whether or not YA lit is equal to adult lit. He clearly has his own (somewhat respectful) opinion on the subject, but many of the commenters have gotten defensive and some downright nasty. The conversation has devolved into whether or not Frankenstein can be considered Science Fiction or Huck Finn considered YA. And of course I waded in (after Gwenda exhausted herself!) as well as many many others. I should just walk away but it's kinda like a literary train wreck in some respects - you just can't ignore it even if you think you should.
A couple of things have surprised me about this. First, Christopher Rowe brought up Frankenstein and a few others as classic examples of genre fiction and Mark as well as others refused to accept those classifications. I have no idea why. If it is a classic must it be literary? This might explain why LIttle Women is always in the fiction section and not the YA when really - could there be a more YA book out there than that? It seems like if a book stands the test of time then it must be elevated to some higher stature - again, Christopher suggests Sense and Sensibility as romance and that is the only thing that book is about. But romance (or dare I say Chick lit) is so low - so very low - that I doubt most literary types can stand the thought of Ms. Austen dropping into that genre pit. They can't explain why, they just say it isn't so.
And that brings up why YA is YA. This has been a big part of the TEV discussion. What makes a book a YA book is one of the central discussion questions and really, no one is happy hearing the YA folks try to explain it. (James Owen is talking himself blue in face about how his fantasy ended up a YA fantasy.) (Read more about that in my column next month!) While I can appreciate the questioning and considering and discussing - I am really rather surprised by it. YA doesn't matter to me anymore, just like mystery, romance or anything else. I just read - as many good books as I can. A big part of why I write about YA is to bring some more attention (adult and teen) to this genre. I want the world to know about fantastic books (like Owen's Here There Be Dragons) that they might ignore because of its genre classification. Of course I have to get the literary types to read my column in order to learn about these titles and I doubt that TEV is going to fall over himself to do that. But he might, right? And if he does, my recommendations will be ready.
Christ - here's an obvious question. Just what the hell kind of writer is Ray Bradbury? Why on earth is Dandelion Wine found in the sci fi section? What makes him less of a literary writer than Mark Twain? Because his characters go to Mars as opposed to the Mississippi? And do you really think Something Wicked This Way Comes is more about scary carnie monsters than fathers and sons? And don't even get me started on his mysteries being placed in sci fi.
Genre classification - it means nothing people. Or at least, it means nothing to those of us who choose to ignore it.
August 26
2006
06:38 PM
Hi Colleen -
Hope my comments weren't among those making people unhappy... (for length or subject!)
It's just funny to me how there's a notion that it's somehow a rung down the literary ladder to be presented as YA. That's why I posed my comments - it was a completely arbitrary thing.
Everyone brings up Pullman, but Garth is my favorite example. One of his series was marketed as full-on Children's Books, plowing right past even YA. And you know what? They were just as skillful, complex, and well-written as the YA books he does.
Didn't want to drag any wreckage over here, but I DID want to thank you fo your continued support. (And my writing this post was my break in the last draft of the sequel. I just finished a scene that made me burst into tears at the desk - I had to actually stop to pull myself back together! (But I guess us YA authors are just sensitive like that.. ;) )