Adolescence in American Fiction and Film

Module code: EN3004

‘Coming of age’ stories are one of the most popular types of narrative in post-war American culture. There has been a flood of representations of the pleasures and pains of growing up, many written for adult readers about adolescent experience, others aimed at teenage readers.

On this module you'll compare a variety of fiction, films, and graphic texts concerned with coming of age in America, from the explosion of adolescent culture after the Second World War up to the present.

What is it like to grow up in American society, and how has that experience changed over the last 60 years or so? What impact do issues like sexuality, gender, and race have? And where do family and friends fit in?