ALAN v30n3 - The Epistolary in Young Adult Literature

I n the span of years that constitutes the period of adolescence, it is common for young men and women to be immersed in self-created worlds of conflicting emotions. As they attempt to become adults, they often experience doubt and despair at the same time that they feel and reflect a sense of hope. Thus, as a form, the personal thinking and private worlds of letter writing are well-suited to the reflection and construction of identity which takes place in young adult lit­ erature. In both Megan McCafferty's Sloppy Firsts (2001) and Steven Chbosky's The Perks ofBeing a Wallflower (1999), young adult characters engage in letter writing activity as they experience the tumult of adolescence. In the novels, the epistolary form, with its limitations, is used in different ways. Each novel, however, utilizes it as a vital tool that allows readers to enter the minds of two young adults for an intimate view of their struggles for identity and self in a confusing and often frightening world. Although many may dis­ (3). The literature written for young adults can be a helpful coping mechanism for adolescents who experience traumatic difficulties or for ones who are dealing with the normal, but painful, everyday experiences associated with a changing mind and body. One researcher notes, "Young adult books fre­ quently show young teens that they are not the only ones who experience problems and even turmoil when dealing with their new bodies and sexuality, with changing relationships with parents and friends, with more philosophically advanced ways of thinking about themselves, the world, and their place in it" (Carroll 25). The literature written for people of this age often depicts characters embroiled in the types of controver­ sies and concerns which are also occupying the minds of read­ ers themselves. One method used by writers of young adult literature to express these themes has been the epistolary, or letter writing form. Although its conventions have infrequently been related to miss the literature written for One method utilized by writers of young adult literature, the epis­ young adults, there are an tolary form has been discussed young adult literature to express these equal number of proponents as a genre for many years. And, who realize its value for ado­ themes has been the epistolary, or letter although there seem to be more lescents. Author Peter writing form. Hollindale writes, "the fact remains that over the years since 1970 a highly intelligent and demanding literature has emerged which speaks with particular directness to the young adult mind the mind which is freshly mature and intellectu­ ally confident, mentally supple and relatively free of ideo­ logical harness" (86). In examining the research done on today's adolescents, it becomes clear that the reality of life for young adults today is neither easy nor ideal. In fact, many young adults are never even exposed to literature. One proponent of ya books laments, "Since the 1980s the gulf between kids and books, especially books as sources of plea­ sure and entertainment, has been expanding. Kids today have grown up with Nintendo, VCRs, cable TV, and computer games ...Their lives are fast paced and ever changing; their schools are crowded and increasingly dangerous" (Crowe 114). Yet, as works written for those in adolescence, young adult literature can clearly be a constructive tool for allowing read­ ers to read, think about, and discuss experiences which may be familiar to them in either positive or negative, exciting or frightening ways. In Conflict and Connection: The Psychology of Young Adult Literature, Sharon A. Stringer writes, "In literature and life, adolescents cope with additional crises such as parents' psychological abandonment, loss through death, disillusion­ ment~ defeat, exposure, and resistance to corruption or to in­ timidation. These stressful experiences may swallow some individuals and stimulate identity achievements in others" works written by, for, or about young adults in diary form, such as Anne Frank's seminal The Di­ ary of a Young Girl, there are many examples of adolescent fiction that utilize the epistolary style. For instance, such books as Chris Crutcher's Chinese Handcuffs (1996), Jaclyn Moriarty's Feeling Sorry for Celia (2001), Gary Crew and Libby Hathorn's Dear Venny, Dear Saffron (2000), and John Marsden's Letters from the Inside (1994) all use the episto­ lary form in writing for and about young adults. Many authors have extensively analyzed and commented upon this form. In one discussion of the epistolary, Elizabeth Campbell defines this type of novel as "a novel written in the form of letters, either an exchange of letters between two or more correspondents, or a single letter, or number of letters from one correspondent to one or more recipients" (333). Another scholar expands the definition, arguing that the epis­ tolary "speaks to the deeper truth that people are locked in their own skins, in their own consciousnesses" (Perry 107). Both of these statements are true of McCafferty and Chbosky's novels, as in each, the protagonists, Jess and Charlie, write letters to others that stem from feelings buried deep within themselves. Through their letters, the extent to which each is trapped within his or her own world and within his or her own skin becomes increasingly clear. The rocky nature of adolescence makes the epistolary well suited to adolescent literature, for" [yJoung adult literature describes how the in­ terior monologue can lead to constructive change" (Stringer 42). In these epistolary novels, the "interior monologue" is