A study of queer young adult literature

English Pedagogy
Text& Use
Carolina Oliva Arriagada
28-05-2012


“A STUDY OF QUEER YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE”















Introduction
The place of stories in a culture
basic human needs and what place do stories play
The challenges of being a teenager

| History and context
Brief history of YA
Brief history of LGBT literature
Common themes and issues

YA LGBT works
Examples
major authors and works
challenges and progress
Conclusion









T.S.Elliot said the purpose of culture was for for • gthe acquisition of wisdom,the enjoyment of
art, and the pleasure of entertainment• h
i
These days,the purpose of stories these days tends to be
either escapism or entertainment.
The wisdom part is often overlooked, even though it is a very important part. History tells us it is
through story-telling that culture survives. It is through folklore that we know of long-dead civilizations.
It hasfor the longest time been a way to bond as a community
There is a theory of a sort of hive mind of humanity, the source of common fears, for example. Why
similar stories pop up in the folklore of unconnected cultures.Humanity shares similar fears and similar
needs.And beyond our need for food and shelter,we need each other. We need company. We need to
know we are not alone, or that there are other people in the world that feel the way we do.The best
stories are the ones we can relate to. When you can see yourself in the protagonist's shoes, it is the best
thing ever.and when that character faces a challenge, one you have faced, it is as if it is telling you that
you matter, that you count as part of the human race.We need stories to survive. Especially when in
lack of companionship. Or at least worthy companionship. It's one thing to be surrounded by people
and a different one to have someone to talk to.It is very easy to feel lost and alone as a teen. Even more
when you feel different from everyone else. Alienation is a very common feeling during your search
for identity and that alienation is exponentially increased with the discovery not-standard
sexuality.Young queers these day are blessed with many interesting characters to discover through
books and TV, and they are likely to find one they can relate to, that can help them feel less alone.
But it hasn’t always been the case. Queer characters have only been showing up in TV since the late
90’s and in literature since the 70’s. And only recently have they started to get happy endings.
How and when did homosexuality entered mainstream consciousness and literature?
While there had been a few attempts before, it was World War II that gave it a big push.
Society was segregated by genders for the most part,with the men off to war and the women entering
the work force, so for the first time homosexuals found themselves together in large groups.People
began writing about it. and not anybody,but serious writers who were later published by big
publishing companies,so people began to pay attention Before this, all tales of homosexuality were
written in Europe in the art world,mostly so it was seen as something done by them, by people who
lived in those circles,not something seen in mainstream society. especially not in the states.two early
examples are Other Voices,Other Rooms Truman Capote and The City and the Pillar Gore Vidal.
ii


YA literature hasn't been around for very long. Although there is a german term
'bildungsroman
iii
' which refers to coming-of-age novels,the quintessential YA theme that has been
around since the late 1800's. It refer to the common plot of the transition from kid to adulthood, often
dealing with an event,often an adventure,as the trigger. The earliest examples were usually of a
youngest son who went off on a trip in search of answer and adventures and how they grew up and
became adults who on their return were accepted into the community. Such as 'the story of tom jones,a
foundling' by henry field, from 1749 or “catcher in the rye” by J.D.Salinger from 1951. A couple of
early modern examples of YA,beyond coming-of-age stories are “seventeenth summer” by maureen
days,from 1942 and “the small rain” by madeleine l'engle from 1945
iv
. the attraction of YA for kids is
to find characters they can relate to, while not being overwhelmed by language or topics, and not being
prejudiced against what they perceive to be boring, like the classics (ie,William Shakespeare) these
days,kids are used to interaction and simply reading a book is not enough. they want to talk about it,
discuss it, know more details, get answers, watch adaptations of of, and learn more about it, like what is
their character's favourite ice cream flavour?
it is this attitude that now practically requires YA authors to set up websites and social media accounts
and to talk back to the readers
v

If the coming-of-age plot is the basic YA plot, coming out,even if it is to oneself, is the basic LGBTQ
plot.the mix of YA and LGBT novels merge coming-of-age,alienation,peer pressure,discovery of
sexuality, rumours,bullying and rejections by peers,parents,often both.
while there are now many novels featuring happy stories regarding queer youth there are many more
that are not so happy cause the reality is that these kids face far more challenges than the average teen.
they are more likely to be bulllied, to do drugs,to get HIV and other STD, to run away,become
homeless, and to commit suicide. especially in the case of transsexuals, whose position in comparison
to other queer teens is even worse. and if there is little representation of queer kids in the media, there
is practically none of transexuals, bisexual and asexuals.
vi

it's not just that queer teen characters are rare. they have existed for a while. but there's one queer to
100 straight and for the longest time, they have been presented as doomed. their lives will suck and it's
their fault for making such a terrible choice. for a while, in hollywwod there was a rule that gay
character could not get happy endings. it was literaly illegal.
vii

so for too long now they have gotten early demises and are not mourned because they asked for it.and
when some did manage to be happy for a while, they were punished accordingly.
fairly ironic considering an archaic meaning of 'gay' is 'happy'.

'Annie on my mind' changed everything by ending on a happy and hopeful note. since its
released it has been banned,burned,censored,etc. which on one side has turned out to be good publicity,
but it has also meant many kids who needed to read it never could. it has also never been out of
print,always sought after and one of the most stolen books off school libraries.when it was released in
1982, it did so with great scandal and polemic, partly due to its homosexual themes but mostly because
of its context. it featured adolescent girls. to its detractors, this was the worst perversion. it was
corrupting children's innocence, and worse, recruiting to the dark side. to its readers, it was a breath of
fresh air a truthful account of what it was like to be gay, to be a gay teenager,to be confused, to fall in
love while the world tells you what you're doing is wrong.Not only does the novel features gay teens, it
also features something even rarer: a happy ending. the girls don't die,or get hurt or have horrible things
happen to them, it does not feature them realising it was just a phase and ending up with men,either. at
the end, they are both alive, they are both doing what they do want to be doing, they are both still gay
and in love. while there had been a few novels featuring gay teens before, none had given them a happy
ending. this novel said being gay wasn't a death sentence, that someone's life didn't have to be short and
painful, and that it wasn't a phase.
and the final twist was that the girls' whole personality did not revolve around their sexuality. it is
obviously a big part of the novel's plot, but the girls have goals,interests, they have dreams and plans,
they have families and other friends they care about, they are three-dimensional characters.that was all
practically unthinkable before.ever since, more and more novels have dared to do the same, creating
interesting characters who are LGBTQ and while their plots often surround how they deal with it, it is
not the only thing about them worth knowing.

the novel 'perks of being a wallflower' by Stephen Chbosky,set in 1992, tells the story of Charlie, a
highschool freshman and through letters to an unknown third-party, we hear of his life and friends and
issues. we hear of different issues like domestic violence, from him telling us about how his sister's
boyfriend treats her and how she responds, we hear of his best friend Patrick's turbulent relationship
with the school quarterback who's closeted and terrified about it. while Charlie himself is remarkably
unphased by it, having the best reaction possible. he doesn't care, he likes patrick, that's all that matters.
The novel features two sides, with Patrick being comfortable with his own sexuality and his friends
reacting similarly and Patrick's boyfriend being the complete opposite,being worried and becoming
dependant on drugs and alcohol to deal with his problems.

in the Australian novel 'dare,truth or promise' by Paula Boock, a girl has to deal with the fallout when
she is discovered in a lesbian relationship with her friend who's deeply religious. we see a little bit of
what it's like for this religious girl to be gay, to the point she's nearly brainwashed into thinking she
doesn't really feel what she feels and how it weighs her down and almost breaks her. our protagonist
tries to relocate,change schools and everything to start anew but she meets a new girl and it all begins
again, with this girl's parents trying to convice her she isn't really in love, to whisk her away elsewhere,
trying to break them up and keep them away.

"Empress of the world' by Sara Ryan is based in a summer school for smart kids where hormones cause
a lot of trouble. It is rather remarkable in that there is almost no gay bashing in the novel. it deals with
living in such close quarters, with becoming very close to someone and being confused by it, with
falling in love and how scary it can be. both girls are fairly accepting of fancying someone of the
same sex, neither suffers from episodes of 'gay angst'
viii
and their friends are fairly accepting as well,
showing just because it's a novel about gay kids doesn't mean it has to be about freaking out over
fancying someone of the same sex, when there are a thousand other issues,especially in this context
featuring a boarding school.
"Keeping you a secret" by Julie Anne Peters features a a girl who after being outed is thrown out of
her house with what she can carry, her mother refusing to let her pack her things or even take the
money she'd been saving.

It is a testament to how far have things have progressed that in the 11 novels published in the
1990's,none of them end in violence or death. It is a sad,yet important accomplishment to
celebrate.Recently,Malinda Lo attempted to discover how many YA books that can be classified as
LGBTQ exist. She used Christine Jenkin's bibliography
ix
,supplemented with Michael Cart's research
and her own research for diversityinya.com, and ended up with a total of 371
x
after which she
continued Jenkin's work,combining her and Cart's lists to create a list of YA books with LGBT themes
published from 2009 to 2011
xi
. she also discovered that less than 1% of YA novels published each year
include LGBT themes or characters. Only lately,in the novels written in the last 15 year can we truly
see a change in the stories of queer youth.Still,'happy'stories are still fairly rare. Ìt has been a long
and often bloody road, but LGBTQ novels have grown over the last 3 0 years or so, becoming
better stories, offering a more optimistic view of its characters lives
It's not a lot, but it is progress and most of these stories do not fall to old cliches of bloodshed and
ruined lives,but portray people with a lot to live for.



iEliot,T.S.“ Notes Towards the Definition of Culture “,1948
ii Cart,Michael “What a Wonderful World:Notes on the Evolution of GLBTQ Literature for Young Adults• h The ALAN
review, Volume 31,Number 2
iiiBildungsroman, or 'educational novel' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bildungsroman , or coming-of-age
novel, http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ComingOfAgeStory
iv Jenkins,C."From Queer to Gay and Back Again" (Library Quarterly 68 [July 1998] 298- 334)
v Bickmore,S.,Bach,J,Hundley,M. • gOn Growing Up, Coming of Age, and Gaining Stature: Young Adult Literature in
and out of Schools” the alan review,Volume 37, Number 1,Fall 2009
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/v37n1/pdf/editors.pdf
vi,Cart,Michael “What a Wonderful World:Notes on the Evolution of GLBTQ Literature for Young Adults• h The ALAN
review, Volume 31,Number 2http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/v31n2/cart.html
viiThe Hays Code, http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HaysCode
viii http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Gayngst
ixJenkins,C. • g young adult Iiction with gay/lesbian content, 1969 - 2009 : a chronological bibliography • h
"http://people.lis.illinois.edu/~cajenkin/yabib.html
x Lo,Malinda,”I have numbers!”, retrieved May 28,2012
http://www.malindalo.com/2011/09/i-have-numbers-stats-on-lgbt-young-adult-books-published-in-t
he-u-s/

xi Cart.M and Lo,M. "LGBTQ Young Adult Books, 2009-2011", September 15,2011
http://www.malindalo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/LGBTQYA2009to2011.pdf