Growing Up in Fantasy: Inspecting the Convergences of Young Adult Literature and Fantastic Fiction

book chapter

en

Young adult literature has established itself as a successful product of book marketing. The problem with YAL is in its definition by age, which transgresses clearcut genre boundaries. Although the slide toward fantasy has manifested itself in many literary genres, I argue that it is particularly fitting for YAL. This fortunate union of YAL and fantasy is caused by the peculiarities of YA fiction world building in which the specifics of the audience play a key role. Aided by Jungian psychology informed approaches (Erik Erikson and Joseph Campbell) and cognitive narratology (Thomas Pavel and David Herman), I inspect the audience’s search for identity which is particularly facilitated by their journey into the possible worlds and the sense of otherness, of being a misfit, which is common to both genres. To portray how YA fantasy intensifies the above-mentioned features, I trace them first in realist YAL, John Green’s Looking for Alaska, then in fantasy of a traditional type, Andrzej Sapkowki’s Witcher series, and finally in YA fantasy, Ransom Rigg’s Miss Peregrine series. No matter what cultural and historical background, whether American of Central European, the genres of YAL and fantasy inform each other; they typically portray the Jungian archetype of a hero on a quest undergoing a rite of passage. By the comparison of realist YAL, traditional fantasy, and their union I attempt to show that their thematization of the mental travel to possible worlds eventually helps the reader overcome a developmental crisis. YAL, fantasy, and their union in YA fantasy have taken up a role of the disappearing cultural phenomenon of ritual, which is possibly one of the reasons for their marketing success.

Young adult literature has established itself as a successful product of book marketing. The problem with YAL is in its definition by age, which transgresses clearcut genre boundaries. Although the slide toward fantasy has manifested itself in many literary genres, I argue that it is particularly fitting for YAL. This fortunate union of YAL and fantasy is caused by the peculiarities of YA fiction world building in which the specifics of the audience play a key role. Aided by Jungian psychology informed approaches (Erik Erikson and Joseph Campbell) and cognitive narratology (Thomas Pavel and David Herman), I inspect the audience’s search for identity which is particularly facilitated by their journey into the possible worlds and the sense of otherness, of being a misfit, which is common to both genres. To portray how YA fantasy intensifies the above-mentioned features, I trace them first in realist YAL, John Green’s Looking for Alaska, then in fantasy of a traditional type, Andrzej Sapkowki’s Witcher series, and finally in YA fantasy, Ransom Rigg’s Miss Peregrine series. No matter what cultural and historical background, whether American of Central European, the genres of YAL and fantasy inform each other; they typically portray the Jungian archetype of a hero on a quest undergoing a rite of passage. By the comparison of realist YAL, traditional fantasy, and their union I attempt to show that their thematization of the mental travel to possible worlds eventually helps the reader overcome a developmental crisis. YAL, fantasy, and their union in YA fantasy have taken up a role of the disappearing cultural phenomenon of ritual, which is possibly one of the reasons for their marketing success.

Young adult literature, fantasy, genre boundaries, Jungian psychology, cognitive narratology, Looking for Alaska, Witcher series, Miss Peregrine series.

01.01.2024

Routledge

New York and London

978-1-03-252556-3

J.R.R. Tolkien in Central Europe: Context, Directions, and the Legacy

1

131–149

18