There are far too many literary events going on in the next few months that require my attendance and monetary funds. First and foremost is the National Book Festival, begun by the Bush's and continuing this year under the Obama's watchful eye. I've attended the past two years and have had a marvelous time despite the rain and the crowds. My one goal for this year is a small one and hopefully financially frugal, get Katherine Paterson to sign my copy of Bridge to Terabithia, one of my favorite childhood books.
I also learned that the Live Arts theatre company in Charlottesville, VA is putting on a production of Lois Lowry's The Giver, in February.
Onto graphic novels. I traveled the three miles to the Borders in Manassas and successfully sped-read through Scott Pilgrim Vol. 1 - 3. While I was engrossed in Volume 3 someone picked up Volume 4 and I had to take a break to nurture the headache that had come from reading too much too fast. I was very disappointed at the lack of "other" graphic novels, seemingly anything not written about superheroes. I did see a copy of Unwritten though that I meant to pick up later.
Stumbling upon more gatherings in the realm of nerdom I wanted to bring a few to your attention, if you haven't heard of them already. With that...
Small Press Expo: I meant to go last year, but never made it. You're also going to recognize more names on this giant list of exhibitors than I am (though I did catch QC's author on the list). It's also happening at the same time as the second event I wanted to bring to your attention, Intervention Con. This particular con is launching this year and the tag line seems like it leaves a lot to be desired, but is backed up by sheer awesome via the number of guests invited. My friends, the husband and wife team authoring the mighty webcomic, Geeks Next Door , [[shameless plug]] are not guests but will be making an appearance at the Artist's Alley.
You should definitely check these out, in other words. I can't imagine a greater gathering of comic artists on this coast at least. The more you know!
Monday, August 16, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Growing Pains: Adolescents turning into Vampires
The second installment of the vampire paper I wrote last summer discusses M. T. Anderson's Thirsty, which chronicles Chris' difficult transition through adolescence, into vampirism.
Anderson’s book takes place in an alternate universe, Clayton, Massachusetts, where humans exist alongside vampires, changelings, and shape shifters and arm themselves against the Forces of Darkness. The highlights in this small town are vampire lynches and the Sad Festival of Vampires, where the town conducts blood rituals to prevent an attack by the evil vampire lord, Tch’muchgar. The story’s protagonist, Christopher, is in high school and on the cusp of puberty. When an agent from the Forces of Light, Chet, comes to recruit Christopher or a secret mission, he can no longer ignore the fact that he might be turning into a vampire.
As the book progresses Christopher becomes more isolated as his transformation into a vampire becomes more apparent. This isolation represents how young adults may feel as they face puberty. Peer pressure is visible when Christopher is approached by a group of local vampire teenagers, who shun him when he refuses to take a human life and sate his bloodlust. Christopher’s only friends, Jerk and Tom, become distant and Christopher’s attempts to woo Rebecca Schwartz are inhibited by his massive canines, perhaps a metaphor for another uncontrollable physical response to girls in male teens.
In Anderson’s world vampirism is treated as a curse that can afflict anyone as early as birth. The allegory of vampirism representing adolescence is very apparent here as Christopher longs for someone to talk to about the overwhelming thirst and blinding rage he experiences. With no one to guide him Christopher becomes a very lost and sympathetic character. Readers will empathize with a young adult’s need for guidance as well as an adult figure they can trust, which Christopher attempts to find in Chet. The pace of the book is fairly slow, but a climactic buildup leads to a twist ending which will leave an impact on the reader. Thirsty contains some instances of violence and is appropriate for middle school readers.
Anderson, M. T. Thirsty. United States: Candlewick Press, 1997.
Anderson’s book takes place in an alternate universe, Clayton, Massachusetts, where humans exist alongside vampires, changelings, and shape shifters and arm themselves against the Forces of Darkness. The highlights in this small town are vampire lynches and the Sad Festival of Vampires, where the town conducts blood rituals to prevent an attack by the evil vampire lord, Tch’muchgar. The story’s protagonist, Christopher, is in high school and on the cusp of puberty. When an agent from the Forces of Light, Chet, comes to recruit Christopher or a secret mission, he can no longer ignore the fact that he might be turning into a vampire.
As the book progresses Christopher becomes more isolated as his transformation into a vampire becomes more apparent. This isolation represents how young adults may feel as they face puberty. Peer pressure is visible when Christopher is approached by a group of local vampire teenagers, who shun him when he refuses to take a human life and sate his bloodlust. Christopher’s only friends, Jerk and Tom, become distant and Christopher’s attempts to woo Rebecca Schwartz are inhibited by his massive canines, perhaps a metaphor for another uncontrollable physical response to girls in male teens.
In Anderson’s world vampirism is treated as a curse that can afflict anyone as early as birth. The allegory of vampirism representing adolescence is very apparent here as Christopher longs for someone to talk to about the overwhelming thirst and blinding rage he experiences. With no one to guide him Christopher becomes a very lost and sympathetic character. Readers will empathize with a young adult’s need for guidance as well as an adult figure they can trust, which Christopher attempts to find in Chet. The pace of the book is fairly slow, but a climactic buildup leads to a twist ending which will leave an impact on the reader. Thirsty contains some instances of violence and is appropriate for middle school readers.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Suddenly Last Summer - In which I wrote a paper about vampires.
To jump right into discussing popular theories about vampire literature and why it appeals to young adults, I bring to my defense my term paper for Deb Taylor's 2008 Young Adult Literature class. The final examination for this course was to pick a topic about young adult literature, flush it out, and find at least six - eight books to support your topic. You could write this paper in the style of a collection of book reviews or in the style of an analytical research paper. Being that it was the summer I chose the former option. My library school friend, April, chose "Hope in Suicide" for her paper topic a year later and read books such as Jay Asher's "13 Reasons Why" and Laurie Halse Andersen's "Wintergirls". I'll have more to say on that later, but this is just to give you an example. Another girl on my class did a presentation of books about boarding schools. Come to think of it, I just now thought of a trend in titles that I should probably elaborate on, which is the triptych of seemingly unrelated aspects of a character's life. For example Louise Rennison's "Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging", Carolyn Mackler's "The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things", Robin Brande's "Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature", etc.
But I digress...or rather, that is not the subject for this week's post.
I'll post the introduction to the paper and then refresh each point as it relates to the particular vampire book I'm reviewing, which will be posted in chronological order.
The first book up this week is L. J. Smith's first installment to her now epic 8 book series and CW series, "The Vampire Diaries". L. J. Smith began this series of books in 1991. At the insistence of her fans she "concluded" the series with the fourth installment, Volume IV: Dark Reunion. After the success of Twilight there was more fan demand to resurrect the series. And thus The Vampire Diaries: The Return was born. I do not believe the Television Series follows the books very closely, mostly because the main character is from Degrassi and looks nothing like the Elena described in the books.
Without further adieu, the appeal of vampire literature is relevant to young adults because of a theory upheld by literary scholars equating vampirism as an allegory for adolescence and puberty (De Marco 26). Considering the appeal of vampire literature to young adults and the appropriateness of the adolescence allegory, the focus of the stories accumulated for this bibliography discuss vampires in high school.
In her book Not Your Mother’s Vampire, Deborah Wilson Overstreet expands the allegory of adolescence and vampirism to include three categories which discuss developmental tasks adolescents must face and tally how often they appear in vampire literature for young adults. The first task is physical body changes during puberty and the search for identity, the second task is renegotiating relationships and power dynamics between teens, parents, and peer groups, and the third task is increasing sexuality and interest in pursuing romantic relationships (Overstreet 14-15).
Smith, L.J. The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening. New York: Harper Court, 1991.
Elena Gilbert’s diary entries help chronicle the beginning of her senior year at Robert E. Lee High School, beginning with the sudden death of her parents. When a mysterious Italian student named Stefan starts attending her school, Elena is determined to win his heart. Following Stefan’s arrival is a sudden spike of sporadic attacks where people are mutilated, seemingly by an animal. As the only vampire in town, Stefan cannot help but blame himself for these attacks though he cannot remember committing them. Isolating himself from his classmates and shunning Elena’s advances only increases her desire to pursue him, even at the risk of her life.
The Vampire Diaries fulfills the third developmental characteristic of developing romantic relationships and recognizing sexuality. The romantic pursuit and obtainment of a relationship between Stefan and Elena is the main focus of this book, the first in an ongoing series of seven. Foreshadowing is very prominent, even occurring from the first line, “Dear Diary, Something awful is going to happen today.” Smith uses a particular convention of vampirism as a metaphor for sex, illustrated through her intimate description of Stefan’s creation into a vampire, as well as his consensual exchange of blood with Elena.
Readers who love plot-driven series will be drawn to The Vampire Diaries as well as through the implied love triangle between Elena, Stefan, and his brother, Damon. Similar to Atwater-Rhodes’ vampires, Damon and Stefan Salvatore are described with opposite personalities: the former is the irreprehensible bad boy, and the latter is the sensitive, sympathetic vampire. Elena is a very weak heroine and portrayed as selfish, manipulative, and conniving. The rest of the cast embodies typical personality archetypes with strong secondary characters. The book’s appropriateness leans more toward upper middle school readers because of violent vampire attacks and the implied sexuality through the exchange of blood.
But I digress...or rather, that is not the subject for this week's post.
I'll post the introduction to the paper and then refresh each point as it relates to the particular vampire book I'm reviewing, which will be posted in chronological order.
The first book up this week is L. J. Smith's first installment to her now epic 8 book series and CW series, "The Vampire Diaries". L. J. Smith began this series of books in 1991. At the insistence of her fans she "concluded" the series with the fourth installment, Volume IV: Dark Reunion. After the success of Twilight there was more fan demand to resurrect the series. And thus The Vampire Diaries: The Return was born. I do not believe the Television Series follows the books very closely, mostly because the main character is from Degrassi and looks nothing like the Elena described in the books.
Without further adieu, the appeal of vampire literature is relevant to young adults because of a theory upheld by literary scholars equating vampirism as an allegory for adolescence and puberty (De Marco 26). Considering the appeal of vampire literature to young adults and the appropriateness of the adolescence allegory, the focus of the stories accumulated for this bibliography discuss vampires in high school.
In her book Not Your Mother’s Vampire, Deborah Wilson Overstreet expands the allegory of adolescence and vampirism to include three categories which discuss developmental tasks adolescents must face and tally how often they appear in vampire literature for young adults. The first task is physical body changes during puberty and the search for identity, the second task is renegotiating relationships and power dynamics between teens, parents, and peer groups, and the third task is increasing sexuality and interest in pursuing romantic relationships (Overstreet 14-15).
Smith, L.J. The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening. New York: Harper Court, 1991.
Elena Gilbert’s diary entries help chronicle the beginning of her senior year at Robert E. Lee High School, beginning with the sudden death of her parents. When a mysterious Italian student named Stefan starts attending her school, Elena is determined to win his heart. Following Stefan’s arrival is a sudden spike of sporadic attacks where people are mutilated, seemingly by an animal. As the only vampire in town, Stefan cannot help but blame himself for these attacks though he cannot remember committing them. Isolating himself from his classmates and shunning Elena’s advances only increases her desire to pursue him, even at the risk of her life.
The Vampire Diaries fulfills the third developmental characteristic of developing romantic relationships and recognizing sexuality. The romantic pursuit and obtainment of a relationship between Stefan and Elena is the main focus of this book, the first in an ongoing series of seven. Foreshadowing is very prominent, even occurring from the first line, “Dear Diary, Something awful is going to happen today.” Smith uses a particular convention of vampirism as a metaphor for sex, illustrated through her intimate description of Stefan’s creation into a vampire, as well as his consensual exchange of blood with Elena.
Readers who love plot-driven series will be drawn to The Vampire Diaries as well as through the implied love triangle between Elena, Stefan, and his brother, Damon. Similar to Atwater-Rhodes’ vampires, Damon and Stefan Salvatore are described with opposite personalities: the former is the irreprehensible bad boy, and the latter is the sensitive, sympathetic vampire. Elena is a very weak heroine and portrayed as selfish, manipulative, and conniving. The rest of the cast embodies typical personality archetypes with strong secondary characters. The book’s appropriateness leans more toward upper middle school readers because of violent vampire attacks and the implied sexuality through the exchange of blood.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Supernatural Teenage Love
It's not enough for teenagers now to fall in love with normal, adolescent boys and girls. Not that this is a new thing but I've noticed a trend in Young Adult Literature where a girl falls in love with a supernatural being or vice versa. Libba Bray has a very nice exception in her Printz Award winning book, Going Bovine, where the main character falls in love with a punk rock angel who seems to be everywhere at once. In this instance, she doesn't seem to be used as a romantic trope but rather as an integral part of the Monty Python-esque nonsensical setting of the protagonist's, Cameron, quest including a neurotic, germophobic dwarf, and a Norse God trapped in the body of a yard gnome. Think of her as the Tin Man of "We're off to see the Wizard", only warped.
Young adult literature is expanding now from falling in love with just vampires. The most recent, but by no means groundbreaking, supernatural creatures to come onto the scene are werewolves and pixies.
Case in point: "Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. In all the years she has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house, Grace has been particularly drawn to an unusual yellow-eyed wolf who, in his turn, has been watching her with increasing intensity."
"For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human... until the cold makes him shift back again.
Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human—or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever."
I wouldn't describe the quality of this book as "fantastic" by any means. The writing style certainly draws you in and absent parents help Grace and Sam's relationship develop to nearly that of an adult level, at least intimately. There's a voyeuristic quality to their relationship as well as the need to save each other from constant dangers of wolves and from each other. Sam is very much a tortured soul having saved Grace once from being attacked by wolves when she was a child, and having to undergo his inconvenient transformations into a werewolf. On the bright side there's a strong heroine in this book, but she needs a few more friends.
I've just found out that not only has this book's rights been published to be turned into a film, but also that it's part of a trilogy continuing with Linger and concluding with Forever. For some reason this bring to mind not only Stephenie Meyer but also L. J. Smith's 8 books dedicated to the love between a girl and two vampire brothers. I'm not sure why these books need to be supported by a series. Perhaps the story really does need to be continued into 8 books (in Smith's case).
Carrie Jones' series, beginning with Need (the second book is pictured here), tells the story of Zara White. Zara suffers a traumatic event involving her parents, moves to a desolate northern state to live with a relative, goes to high school, becomes instantly popular, and discovers that she's in love with a boy who may or may not be a supernatural being. Stop me if this sounds familiar. I may sound a bit harsh here, but upon reading Need, Jones does work with the mold of a very overdone concept and take it to a completely new level involving....wait for it...PIXIES! (Oh, and werewolves or "shifters" as they're referred to in this series). Also a captivating series (mind the pun), I began reading it with no expectations. By the time I recognized the plot points I was too far in to put it down. I've made it through Captivate and am awaiting the third installment soon. Zara's biggest conflict is protecting her loved ones from pixies while trying to have a healthy relationship with her werewolf boyfriend who can't help but resent her a little bit for having ties with pixies, who are his immortal enemies. A big change comes in Captivate, fairly similar to a big change in Twilight: Breaking Dawn so we'll see how it ends.
Now that we're on the subject, why does the transformation from human to supernatural/mythical being have to be triggered by physical contact that's highly sexual? The transformation into a werewolf involve genetics or being bitten, vampires involve a ceremony which centers from being bitten and exchanging blood, and according to Jones' mythology, becoming a pixie happens when one is kissed, a process which they might not survive or at the very least be turned insane by. I just want to know what other people's thoughts are on this topic as it relates to enticing new young adult readers. I'm beginning to wonder if books on normal, human love are not enough for audiences anymore and that one must thrust themselves into universes of fantasy in order to be captivated by the simple story of one person falling in love with another. The fact that these are unobtainable relationships, because werewolves, pixies, fae, and vampires don't exist is what perhaps give young adult readers hope that they are more likely to find a normal relationship.
Young adult literature is expanding now from falling in love with just vampires. The most recent, but by no means groundbreaking, supernatural creatures to come onto the scene are werewolves and pixies.
"For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human... until the cold makes him shift back again.
Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human—or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever."
I wouldn't describe the quality of this book as "fantastic" by any means. The writing style certainly draws you in and absent parents help Grace and Sam's relationship develop to nearly that of an adult level, at least intimately. There's a voyeuristic quality to their relationship as well as the need to save each other from constant dangers of wolves and from each other. Sam is very much a tortured soul having saved Grace once from being attacked by wolves when she was a child, and having to undergo his inconvenient transformations into a werewolf. On the bright side there's a strong heroine in this book, but she needs a few more friends.
I've just found out that not only has this book's rights been published to be turned into a film, but also that it's part of a trilogy continuing with Linger and concluding with Forever. For some reason this bring to mind not only Stephenie Meyer but also L. J. Smith's 8 books dedicated to the love between a girl and two vampire brothers. I'm not sure why these books need to be supported by a series. Perhaps the story really does need to be continued into 8 books (in Smith's case).
Now that we're on the subject, why does the transformation from human to supernatural/mythical being have to be triggered by physical contact that's highly sexual? The transformation into a werewolf involve genetics or being bitten, vampires involve a ceremony which centers from being bitten and exchanging blood, and according to Jones' mythology, becoming a pixie happens when one is kissed, a process which they might not survive or at the very least be turned insane by. I just want to know what other people's thoughts are on this topic as it relates to enticing new young adult readers. I'm beginning to wonder if books on normal, human love are not enough for audiences anymore and that one must thrust themselves into universes of fantasy in order to be captivated by the simple story of one person falling in love with another. The fact that these are unobtainable relationships, because werewolves, pixies, fae, and vampires don't exist is what perhaps give young adult readers hope that they are more likely to find a normal relationship.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)