Twain, Alcott, and the Birth of the Adolescent Reform Novel

Download or read book Twain, Alcott, and the Birth of the Adolescent Reform Novel written by Roberta S. Trites and published by University of Iowa Press. This book was released on 2009-11 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Trites argues that Twain and Alcott wrote on similar topics because they were so deeply affected by the Civil War, by cataclysmic emotional and financial losses in their families, by their cultural immersion in the tenets of Protestant philosophy, and by sexual tensions that may have stimulated their interest in writing for adolescents, Trites demonstrates how the authors participated in a cultural dynamic that marked the changing nature of adolescence in America, provoking a literary sentiment that continues to inform young adult literature. Both intuited that the transitory nature of adolescence makes it ripe for expression about human potential for change and reform.