The merits of young adult literature
Young adult literature, or YA lit, has been the subject of contentious debates for many years. Some of these debates focus on the merit — or lack thereof — of fiction written directly for the teenage population, while others question the mere existence of this particular genre. Generally, it’s accepted that YA lit is literature written for and marketed to young adults, ranging in age from 12 to 25.
Some argue that there is little literary difference between YA lit and the bildungsroman; both genres use age specificity and youthful voices to address problems which transcend age, delivering lesson and wisdom that defies literary or social boundary. In an article for The American Conservative, Catherine Addington explores a potentially powerful historical difference between the two genres: as “pop culture” has largely come to be defined by the culture of youth, YA lit has become “the literary incarnation of a culture obsessed with youth.” This obsession extends beyond the youthful generation, as Adam Roberts notes in an article for Sibilant Fricative: adults often “secretly feel that [they are] immature individual souls walking around in grown-up bodies.”
Though oft-forgotten, early examples of YA lit are today largely considered to be classic, irreplaceable volumes in the literary canon: Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer are simply a few examples from the early 20th Century. The 1950s and 60s brought with them The Catcher in the Rye, The Outsiders, and The Bell Jar. Other greats from this time, often assigned in high school and university English classes alike, include Watership Down and To Kill a Mockingbird.
Today, YA lit is not thought of in such prolific terms. Stephanie Meyers’s Twilight saga, and the wave of popular vampire fiction which followed it, is often the first example used when defining the modern YA genre. Other post-apocalyptic publications, such as Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games series, Veronica Roth’s Divergent trilogy, and Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments six-book succession, round out the typical YA lit stereotype. Based on this, many are quick to write off the YA genre as “literature” worth reading — or, more specifically, literature worth studying.
Beyond the arguments of whether or not Twilight has literary merit, the arguments against the merits of YA lit seem to forget about the literary canon, ignoring the fact that “adult” fiction is not judged by its most popular or widest read material. If the merits of adult literature are not questioned on the basis that the 50 Shades of Grey series — originally written as an adult-focused Twilight fan fiction — has sold over 100 million copies worldwide, then why should YA literature be judged by the popularity of vampiric romance amongst teenagers?
Writing off YA lit because of a few popular books – which may or may not be questionably written – means to miss out on truly amazing, wonderfully written books in the process. Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Jerry Spinelli’s Stargirl, Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor and Park, Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies, and anything John Green has ever written – these are the types of books upon which the judgments of YA lit should be based. These are the YA literary canon, and if the merits of adult fiction are to be focused on the cream of that crop, so too should the merits of YA lit, differing only from this already “acceptable” literature in marketing.