A01=Kate Douglas
abuse narratives
American literature
Australian literature
author-reader dynamics
Author_Kate Douglas
autobiographical accounts
autobiographical genre
autobiographical writings
bestselling memoirs
British literature
Category=DSB
Category=JBSP1
childhood
childhood experiences
commentary
Contesting Childhood
cultural memory
cultural significance
cultural studies
diverse range of authors
early 2000s
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
genre
historical context
identity formation
influential
late 1990s
literary analysis
literary criticism.
literary studies
memory
memory studies
personal narratives
politically important
public sphere
representations
social commentary
societal impact
Stolen Generation
surge
theories of authorship
theories of readership
trauma
trauma studies
trials
tribulations
triumphs
youth narratives
Product details
- ISBN 9780813546643
- Weight: 340g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 21 Jan 2010
- Publisher: Rutgers University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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The late 1990s and early 2000s witnessed a surge in the publication and popularity of autobiographical writings about childhood. Linking literary and cultural studies, Contesting Childhood draws on a varied selection of works from a diverse range of authorsùfrom first-time to experienced writers. Kate Douglas explores Australian accounts of the Stolen Generation, contemporary American and British narratives of abuse, the bestselling memoirs of Andrea Ashworth, Augusten Burroughs, Robert Drewe, Mary Karr, Frank McCourt, Dave Pelzer, and Lorna Sage, among many others.
Drawing on trauma and memory studies and theories of authorship and readership, Contesting Childhood offers commentary on the triumphs, trials, and tribulations that have shaped this genre. Douglas examines the content of the narratives and the limits of their representations, as well as some of the ways in which autobiographies of youth have become politically important and influential. This study enables readers to discover how stories configure childhood within cultural memory and the public sphere.
KATE DOUGLASS is a senior lecturer in the department of English, creative writing, and Australian studies at Flinders University, South Australia. She is the coeditor of Trauma Texts.
