{"id":176,"date":"2011-06-06T18:24:18","date_gmt":"2011-06-06T18:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/diaryofawimpycatholic\/?p=176"},"modified":"2015-03-13T15:04:58","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T21:04:58","slug":"eek-a-ya-novel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/diaryofawimpycatholic\/2011\/06\/eek-a-ya-novel\/","title":{"rendered":"Eek! A YA Novel!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Change your maps: the YA section is the new Gommorah, at least according to Meghan Cox Gurdon. In the Wall Street Journal,<\/i> she asks:<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

How dark is contemporary fiction for teens? Darker than when you were a child, my dear: So dark that kidnapping and pederasty and incest and brutal beatings are now just part of the run of things in novels directed, broadly speaking, at children from the ages of 12 to 18.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Gurdon goes on to warn of \u201cPathologies\u2026spelled out in stomach-clenching detail,\u201d and \u201cProfanity that would get a song or movie branded with a parental warning.\u201d Then, finally, she says something interesting:<\/p>\n

Now, whether you care if adolescents spend their time immersed in ugliness probably depends on your philosophical outlook. Reading about homicide doesn\u2019t turn a man into a murderer; reading about cheating on exams won\u2019t make a kid break the honor code. But the calculus that many parents make is less crude than that: It has to do with a child\u2019s happiness, moral development and tenderness of heart. Entertainment does not merely gratify taste, after all, but creates it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tenderness of heart is a very rare and wonderful quality. It\u2019s what makes people cry during movies before waking up at night to cry some more. But dark, angsty literature is nothing if not calibrated to jerk tears. When, as a preteen, I read Robert Cormier\u2019s books, believe me, I was not giggling. The books Cox describes must vary considerably in quality and intent \u2014 surely some run to cheap sensationalism. But the best of them, I\u2019ll bet, do more to sensitize readers to the world\u2019s ugliness than the reverse.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m afraid what Cox may really have in mind is not tenderheartedness but prissiness, which I will define \u2014 somewhat carelessly, I\u2019ll grant you \u2014 as a principled inability to empathize with anybody outside one\u2019s own, well-ordered suburban existence. Not that prissiness doesn\u2019t have its value as a means of social control: if you teach your kid to say \u201cIck\u201d early enough and often enough, you may, in fact, reduce the chance she\u2019ll get pregnant by someone unsuitable. <\/p>\n

Does prissiness pre-empt the development of a tender heart? Not a bit. But it can, I think, restrict that heart\u2019s range of expression. Let me give you an example of what I mean.<\/p>\n

Not long ago, a girl I was dating complained to me about the mean-girl antics of her Cursillo group cronies. Apparently, they were making life hard for a newcomer. My friend, kind soul that she is, had tried to take the newcomer\u2019s part. Kind soul that she is, she was trying to do so without stepping on too many toes. Life in the crossfire was plainly wearing her out.<\/p>\n

Referring to the bullies, I said, \u201cWhat a bunch of \u2013\u201d And I uttered perhaps the only word in the English language that can still toast largely flame-proof ears. The intended subtext went: \u201cSee? I am tuned in, I am listening. I am not yes-dearing you. I am identifying with you so completely that I will spit in propriety\u2019s face!\u201d To my mind, that display of active listening skills had earned me a medal, or at least a kiss.<\/p>\n

What I got instead was a wounded-calf look that said, \u201cMust you be so vulgar?\u201d I felt completely misunderstood and unappreciated. It was as if I\u2019d rushed in the room crying, \u201cI love you,\u201d only to be reminded to take off my shoes before stepping on the carpet. <\/p>\n

None of this is to say that all young adult literature is edifying, healthy or even well-written, just that I hesitate to take the word of a woman who sounds so easily outraged. Gurdon doesn\u2019t even pause to consider the books\u2019 literary merit. To her, they might as well be fake dog poo that someone left on her seat when she was fussing in the ladies\u2019 room. Ms. Gordon is a critic, but this particular piece is not serious literary criticism; it is culture war. Nobody should mistake one for the other,<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Change your maps: the YA section is the new Gommorah, at least according to Meghan Cox Gurdon. In the Wall Street Journal, she asks: How dark is contemporary fiction for teens? Darker than when you were a child, my dear: So dark that kidnapping and pederasty and incest and brutal beatings are now just part […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":192,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[141,160,182,239],"class_list":["post-176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-literature","tag-megan-cox-gordon","tag-parenting","tag-wall-street-journal"],"yoast_head":"\nEek! A YA Novel!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Change your maps: the YA section is the new Gommorah, at least according to Meghan Cox Gurdon. 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