Does YA Save?

Aren't they cute? They look like they're about to Riverdance

Meghan Fox Gurgon, a writer for the online Wall Street Journal has pissed off a lot of people lately. She wrote an article titled "Darkness Too Visible" that questions the place of Young Adult fiction in the development of teenagers. It's the hot thing for writers right now, to write books that are "YA". It sells, thanks to Stephenie Meyer and J.K Rowling. What does that mean anyway, to writer a "YA" novel? According to Wikipedia:

"The subject matter and story lines are typically consistent with the age and experience of the main character, but beyond that YA stories span the entire spectrum of fiction genres. Themes in YA stories often focus on the challenges of youth, so much so that the entire age category is sometimes referred to as problem novels or coming of age novels.Writing styles of YA stories range widely, from the richness of literary style to the clarity and speed of the unobtrusive and even free verse ."


Good enough. And what's Mrs. Fox Gurdon's problem with that?

"Now, whether you care if adolescents spend their time immersed in ugliness probably depends on your philosophical outlook. Reading about homicide doesn't turn a man into a murderer; reading about cheating on exams won't 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's happiness, moral development and tenderness of heart. Entertainment does not merely gratify taste, after all, but creates it."

That's her main argument right there. Young Adult fiction is often dark and disturbing and the writer questions the value of those books in the development of teenagers. She gives for example the novel Rage by Jackie Morse Kessler that deals with the issue of self-harm. The heroin  Missy has to overcome her social alienation and her razor blade secret. It's a pretty intense subject matter, I have to admit. Mrs. Fox Gurdon argues that it's not getting the teenagers any positive influence or outlook on life in general, as Young Adult fiction writers and readers argues that it saves lives. That relating to a fiction character can help gaining perspective on one's situation, hence the #YASaves trend you have seen appear on Twitter for the last week. Trends that I had a lot of fun to gently troll, if you can forgive me that.

To tell you the truth, I am rather torn by this problematic. I am not a fan of Young Adult fiction by any means, but I have read some and I can understand why there's a demand for that. Although, I am from the old days where kids were punted into life by their parents and were left to themselves to figure it all out. It wasn't always easy. I would go as far as saying that life sucked for a few years, but last thing I wanted was to have the parents involved. Picture a Lord Of The Flies scenario where the desert island is replaced by a high school. I read some novels that my mother dropped on my night table in insane quantities (six or seven at every trip to the library. When you're fourteen, it's a lot). Most were Young Adult crime novels, where the hero got in troubles way over his head and finally sorted it out with the help of responsible adults and law enforcement. At the end, he always walked into the sunset. They left such a  weak memory, I'd be at loss to name you one title.

I have read in my teenage years and it helped me. Tolkien, Palahniuk, Machiavel, Nietzsche even. But not everybody had the great teachers I had (who were often very smart people of my age). I can understand somebody finding refuge in experience he/she can relate to. I have read Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson for a reading challenge, last January. I thought it was a shining example of a book that needed to be written. Rape is one of the worst experience that can affect somebody's development. The social stigma that goes with being victim of a rape is something that is not still fully grasped. Mrs. Anderson can write all the Young Adult novels she wants if she keeps dealing diligently like that with terrifying issues that young girls have to face sometimes. Unfortunately enough, I didn't see her name in Meghan Fox Gurdon's article.

But...

Like in every literary trends, there are the pioneers, the writers that keep bringing new stuff to the genre and there are people that push things to crazy extremes. Rage for example, deals with a psychological problem. The only novel that should have been written about it is "Missy Goes To The Psychiatrist ". And I'm not trying to be a snide piece of shit here. I have not read the novel, so I don't know if she ever gets any help, but young girls are often checked in hospitals because of that and remain there for weeks. It's a life-threatening issue. I mean, we're passed the fifties where the generation gap tore families apart. I can see how parents can see it as all fun and games, tell themselves "she'll outgrow it" until they find out she cuts herself. But still, the only way of not validating self-harm as a way to get attention is to write "Missy Goes To The Psychiatrist ". The complete five tome series. To me, the distress of a self-harm patient is nothing to write about, unless she's hell-bent on getting better. Like Mary Gaitskill's "Secretary" for example.

That said, Meghan Fox Gurdon has taken the initiative of proposing "positive" books for youth, which includes: Charles Portis' True Grit, Tobias Wollf's Old School and Betty Smith's A Tree Grows In Brooklyn which are great ideas. A little dated, but great nonetheless. She also has in the list Ophelia by Lisa Klein which proves she doesn't quite know what she's talking about. Shakespeare's characters were insanely brutal and Ophelia (along with the whole Hamlet cast) might be the one of the worst. And also, what the hell does The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time does on that list? What can a young teenager that gets punched regularly at school can get out of it? The whole point of her article is that Young Adult novels are a bad influence for kids. Giving them novels with interesting aesthetic approach, but that doesn't quite reach out to them. My main problem with Meghan Fox Gurdon's article is that she's not helping. She sure points the finger a lot, but she's not interested in solving this issue about of darkness and death being cool for teenagers.

Young Adult fiction is here to stay. It's eventually going to grow out of style and get back in the rotation of literary trends. But it's not going away anytime soon. It's not going to be brushed away or "outgrown" like the boogieman. There are a few shining stars in the field, but it's a genre littered with EXTREMELY questionable material. I don't have any kids right now but if I did,  I would be distressed to have them read low level Young Adult fiction. What's the solution then? I think Young Adult fiction writers and readers have to grow more critical and start police their own genre. It's a free for all right now. Everybody wants to rip off Stephenie Meyer and write paranormal romances where the alpha male falls in love with a normal girl. It's time for the spearheads of the movement to ask themselves questions. What do you want to do? Are you educators? Merely entertainers? How do you want kids to remember you? Do you want to help? Denounce?  Do you want to SAVE when you write?

Let's talk. I am curious to hear you.