Re-membering the Self Psychoanalytic Theory and Subjectivity in Adolescent Fiction
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21153/pecl2004vol14no1art1276Keywords:
psychoanalytic theory, adolescent fiction, selfAbstract
In lieu of abstract, here is the first paragraph of the article:
'Who are you?’ said the Caterpillar.
This was not an encouraging opening for the conversation Alice replied, rather shyly, 'I - I hardly know, sir; just at present - at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.'
'What do you mean by that?' said the Caterpillar sternly. 'Explain yourself!'
'I can't explain myself I am afraid, sir,’ said Alice, 'because I'm not myself, you see.' I don't see,' said the Caterpillar.
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll's enigmatic dialogue between Alice and the hookah-smoking Caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland (1865) anticipates a search for self that has become a recurrent theme in contemporary young adult literature. Adolescence in Western society is often seen as a time of crisis in which the identity that existed in the realm of the child needs to be reconstructed in order to cope with the expectations and demands of the adult world. Writers of adolescent fiction have tapped into this concern and so 'ideas about and representations of subjectivity underpin adolescent fiction.' (McCallum 1999, p.3).
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