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Evaluating Young Adult Literature through Transactional Theory

Lash, Holly L
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=oduhonors1449497760

Abstract Details

2015, Honors Theses, Ohio Dominican University, Honors Theses.
Young Adult literature (sometimes known simply as YA literature) is an ever-changing genre that has been affected by time and a growing reader demographic, with more adults reading these novels than ever before. Historically, the genre’s definition has differed among scholars, writers, and publishers. With the genre’s increased presence, the attitude about it has shifted. Once condescendingly shelved right alongside picture books and dismissed as “for children,” YA literature has made a name for itself with continued successes like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, The Giver, and The Fault in Our Stars. Despite its popularity, the genre also suffers from a lack of diversity in characters and overall narrative structure. Characters are more than likely white, able-bodied, and straight with little to no variation. This paper analyzes a variety of perspectives from authors, editors, scholars, writers, lovers and skeptics of the genre to form a cohesive definition of YA literature using Louise Rosenblatt’s transactional theory. I argue that the overall theme of identity—searching for it and retaining it—defines the Young Adult genre of the past, present, and future. Analyzing Young Adult books using this broad theme of identity highlights the problems with the overabundance of white, straight, able-bodied characters used to convey this message. My creative project, Nyx, was developed in order to approach the theme of identity using diverse perspectives going against the perceived tropes of the YA genre.
Kelsey Squire (Advisor)
Kevin Cordi (Advisor)
Elisabeth Rauch (Other)
John M. Marazita (Committee Chair)
35 p.
Education; Literature
Young Adult Literature; YA; Evaluating Genre; Teen Fiction; Transactional Theory; Louise Rosenblatt

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Lash, H. L. (2015). Evaluating Young Adult Literature through Transactional Theory [Electronic thesis or dissertation, Ohio Dominican University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=oduhonors1449497760

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Lash, Holly. Evaluating Young Adult Literature through Transactional Theory . 2015. Ohio Dominican University, Electronic thesis or dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=oduhonors1449497760.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Lash, Holly. "Evaluating Young Adult Literature through Transactional Theory ." Electronic thesis or dissertation, Ohio Dominican University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=oduhonors1449497760

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

oduhonors1449497760
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© 2015, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Evaluating Young Adult Literature through Transactional Theory by Holly L Lash is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by Ohio Dominican University Honors Theses and OhioLINK.