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how far is too far
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From: Steward, Celeste <csteward>
Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2005 12:19:09 -0700
Amen, Leda...I totally agree...we Americans do suffer from Puritanical leanings! And I believe all that centuries-old repression metatasizes elsewhere in our capitalistic society.
I'd like to add a personal favorite title of my own: The Gospel According to Larry by Janet Tashjian...lots of humor masking some rather serious issues surrounding corporate greed and materialism...it's a very provocative and well-written novel.
Message----From: Leda Schubert [mailto:bobr at vtlink.net] Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 10:45 AM To: Subscribers of ccbc-net Subject: [ccbc-net] how far is too far
I am often struck by the centuries-old effect of America's Puritan heritage. Whenever we talk about difficult topics, sex is the first agenda item. "We" (I use the term to cover a large percentage of the population) are truly confused on the subject--it's everywhere and it's nowhere. I cannot believe that anyone over the age of 12 has not already been exposed to sexual content far beyond most content in YA books, either in the news or on TV or in magazines or in their discussions with their peers.
Therefore, a question: does anybody know what YA lit looks like in a less Puritan culture? Or does it even exist in a context at all like ours, as Ginny mentions? Though we do see books from Great Britain, Australia, and Canada, we see so few translated books that I can't judge.
Today's Wall Street Journal has another article on the topic with a booklist, and mentions that "how i live now" features a relationship between cousins, again ignoring the real theme of the book, which has been discussed here before. l?mod=todays%5Ffree%5Ffeature. PW sent this out.
What I found so powerful about "hiln" was its setting: the experience of young people in a war in England, more or less now, that is so much like the war in Iraq we are not allowed to see on TV. For most Americans, war is always somewhere else or a long time ago. I was breathless reading it. Are reporters for the WSJ afraid to mention this content? Furthermore, to piggyback on Ruth Gordon's comment, what about topics like the effects of unbridled capitalism and the all-too-present dangers of mixing church and state? Are there many recent YAs that are really exploring the economic, political and corporate culture in which we live? FEED, brilliantly, of course. Several excellent apocalyptic novels. GODLESS: an exploration of religion. PRIVATE PEACEFUL and B FOR BUSTER were both strong, impressive anti-war novels, but were written by a Canadian and an Englishman. Naomi Shihab Nye's new GOING, GOING, looks at corporate takeovers of small businesses. But is it possible that the things we really NEED our kids to be thinking about aren't reflected often enough in their fiction? How far is too far for books that challenge the prevailing political climate of unbridled greed and fearless lies? Can they be published by companies owned by those very corporations?
Is it possible that our leaders distract the populace by getting them to worry so much about sexuality rather than what's really going on?
Perhaps I myself am going too far here, and I hope I'm not offending too many of you. Maybe you're all at ALA! Leda, who gets ccbc in digest
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Received on Fri 24 Jun 2005 02:19:09 PM CDT
Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2005 12:19:09 -0700
Amen, Leda...I totally agree...we Americans do suffer from Puritanical leanings! And I believe all that centuries-old repression metatasizes elsewhere in our capitalistic society.
I'd like to add a personal favorite title of my own: The Gospel According to Larry by Janet Tashjian...lots of humor masking some rather serious issues surrounding corporate greed and materialism...it's a very provocative and well-written novel.
Message----From: Leda Schubert [mailto:bobr at vtlink.net] Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 10:45 AM To: Subscribers of ccbc-net Subject: [ccbc-net] how far is too far
I am often struck by the centuries-old effect of America's Puritan heritage. Whenever we talk about difficult topics, sex is the first agenda item. "We" (I use the term to cover a large percentage of the population) are truly confused on the subject--it's everywhere and it's nowhere. I cannot believe that anyone over the age of 12 has not already been exposed to sexual content far beyond most content in YA books, either in the news or on TV or in magazines or in their discussions with their peers.
Therefore, a question: does anybody know what YA lit looks like in a less Puritan culture? Or does it even exist in a context at all like ours, as Ginny mentions? Though we do see books from Great Britain, Australia, and Canada, we see so few translated books that I can't judge.
Today's Wall Street Journal has another article on the topic with a booklist, and mentions that "how i live now" features a relationship between cousins, again ignoring the real theme of the book, which has been discussed here before. l?mod=todays%5Ffree%5Ffeature. PW sent this out.
What I found so powerful about "hiln" was its setting: the experience of young people in a war in England, more or less now, that is so much like the war in Iraq we are not allowed to see on TV. For most Americans, war is always somewhere else or a long time ago. I was breathless reading it. Are reporters for the WSJ afraid to mention this content? Furthermore, to piggyback on Ruth Gordon's comment, what about topics like the effects of unbridled capitalism and the all-too-present dangers of mixing church and state? Are there many recent YAs that are really exploring the economic, political and corporate culture in which we live? FEED, brilliantly, of course. Several excellent apocalyptic novels. GODLESS: an exploration of religion. PRIVATE PEACEFUL and B FOR BUSTER were both strong, impressive anti-war novels, but were written by a Canadian and an Englishman. Naomi Shihab Nye's new GOING, GOING, looks at corporate takeovers of small businesses. But is it possible that the things we really NEED our kids to be thinking about aren't reflected often enough in their fiction? How far is too far for books that challenge the prevailing political climate of unbridled greed and fearless lies? Can they be published by companies owned by those very corporations?
Is it possible that our leaders distract the populace by getting them to worry so much about sexuality rather than what's really going on?
Perhaps I myself am going too far here, and I hope I'm not offending too many of you. Maybe you're all at ALA! Leda, who gets ccbc in digest
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Received on Fri 24 Jun 2005 02:19:09 PM CDT
