Ideologies of Identity in Adolescent Fiction: The Dialogic Construction of Subjectivity (Garland Reference Library of Social Science)

This work examines the representation of selfhood in adolescent and children's fiction, using a Bakhtinian approach to subjectivity, language and narrative. Ideologies of Identity in Adolescent Fiction examines the representation of selfhood in adolescent and children's fiction, using a Bakhtinian approach to subjectivity, language, and narrative. The ideological frames within which identities are formed are inextricably bound up with ideas about subjectivity, ideas which pervade and underpin adolescent fictions. Although the humanist subject has been systematically interrogated by recent philosophy and criticism, the question which lies at the heart of fiction for young people is not whether a coherent self exists but what kind of self it is and what are the conditions of its coming into being. Ideologiesof Identity in Adolescent Fiction has a double focus: first, the images of selfhood that the fictions offer their readers, especially the interactions between selfhood, social and cultural forces, ideologies, and other selves; and second, the strategies used to structure narrative and to represent subjectivity and intersubjectivity. Ideologies of Identity in Adolescent Fiction examines the representation of selfhood in adolescent and children's fiction, using a Bakhtinian approach to subjectivity, language, and narrative. The ideological frames within which identities are formed are inextricably bound up with ideas about subjectivity, ideas which pervade and underpin adolescent fictions. Although the humanist subject has been systematically interrogated by recent philosophy and criticism, the question which lies at the heart of fiction for young people is not whether a coherent self exists but what kind of self it is and what are the conditions of its coming into being. Ideologies of Identity in Adolescent Fiction has a double focus: first, the images of selfhood that the fictions offer their readers, especially the interactions between selfhood, social and cultural forces, ideologies, and other selves; and second, the strategies used to structure narrative and to represent subjectivity and intersubjectivity Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Contents......Page 5 GENERAL EDITOR'S FOREWORD......Page 10 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 12 INTRODUCTION......Page 16 REPRESENTING INTERSUBJECTIVITY: POLYPHONIC NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES......Page 36 DlALOGISM AND SUBJECTIVITY: DOUBLES AND THE QUEST FOR THE SELF......Page 80 ALIENATION AND TRANSGRESSION AS FUNCTIONS OF THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF SUBJECTIVITY......Page 112 SUBJECTIVITY, COGNITION AND CERTAINTY......Page 144 SUBJECTIVITY AND HISTORY......Page 180 THE TEXTUAL AND DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTION OF SUBJECTIVITY I: EXTRALITERARY GENRES......Page 216 THE TEXTUAL AND DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTION OF SUBJECTIVITY II: HISTORIOGRAPHIC GENRES......Page 242 CONCLUSION......Page 268 GLOSSARY......Page 274 BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 280 INDEX......Page 292 Looks mostly at adolescent novels but also some for children that represent subjectivity as being dialogically constructed through interrelationships with others, through language, and/or in a relation to social and cultural forces and ideologies. Novels are also selected that use overtly dialogical narrative strategies to structure the narrative and to represent subjectivity and intersubjectivity. This book examines the representation of selfhood in adolescent and children's fiction, using a Bakhtinian approach to subjectivity, language and narrative