This study was (1) to determine the common characteristics in selected adolescent novels, excluding science fiction written during the years 1971-1980; (2) to compare and contrast these common characteristics with the theoretical assertions made by experts who wrote about these novels; and (3) to determine if the adolescent novels written during 1971-1980 underwent an evolutionary process or if they remained constant.A review of the research led to the formulation of the following hypotheses:1. The adolescent novels reviewed for this study would show that there would be an increase in the number of novels of character.2. It would be demonstrated that there would be a movement away from the third person point ofview and that other points of view would be used as well.3. Subjects which were taboo earlier would be presented openly in current adolescent novels.Procedural stages were developed to accomplish the goals of the study.The procedural stages were (1) reviewing the research already done on the subject; (2) selecting representative sources of novels; (3) selecting novels to be used; (4) determining the characteristics to be studied and developing the worksheet; and (5) selecting the methods to be used in reviewing the novels.A worksheet was compiled for each of the selected novels, then a composite was made for each year, as well as for the 10-year period. The composites showed the number of novels and the percentages for each of the categories. The categories were: (1) Novel of Incident or Novel of Character; (2) Time Span and Length of the Novel; (3) Plot Progression-Chronologically or otherwise; (4) Sex of Author versus Sex of Protagonist(s); (5) Viewpoint From Which the Story was Told; (6) Age and Sex of the Protagonist(s); (7) Social Concerns; (8) Social Classes; (9) Family Structure; (10) Setting and (11) Time of Setting.The findings showed that a majority of the adolescent novels of 1971-1980 were "Novels of Character"; the time span was considerably longer than the traditional three months; the length of the novels was slightly longer than months; the length of the novels was slightly longer thanthe expected two-hundred pages, or less; chronological plot progression was still dominant, but some other methods of plot progression were used, such as flashbacks and stream-of-consciousness; most of the novels were written by female authors and most protagonists were female; however, female authors were more likely to use a protagonist of the opposite sex than were male authors. About half of the stories were told in the first person and slightly more than half of these were told from the male point of view. The average age of the protagonist was 15.5 years; nearly four-out-of-five of the novels showed the traditional male/female sex role; many of the novels showed conflicts between the protagonist and an adult, particularly a parent.For the most part, the protagonist was of the white middle or working class and lived with both parents. If one parent was missing, it was usually the father.Settings were equally divided between the city and the country; and when the time of action was determined, it usually took place during the time frame of this study, the 1970s.This investigator concluded from his findings that. the adolescent novel was changing during the 1970s. It had evolved from a rather simple, single-line story of the earlier decades to a rather sophisticated novel with a variety of points of view, several kinds of plot progression, and multiple socioeconomic and geographical settings.The adolescent novel of the 70s depicted various family structures and sex roles not found in earlier adolescent novels. Perhaps most important was the fact that the adolescent novel of the 70s dealt with problems and situations which were common to the adolescent, the intended audience of such a novel.

published_or_final_version / Comparative Literature / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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The works of important Anglophone African novelists, in particular those who have contributed to the growing body of literary criticism, support their claim that there is a distinctive African novel. Their novels clearly demonstrate the attachment of the novel form to the specific cultural, social and political milieu in which it is produced. The thematic concerns of Anglophone African novelists have far-reaching effects on their treatment of subject-matter and on their narrative methods. The structures of certain important novels reveal patterns of experience which are typical of African societies. Symbols and motifs which are used to further structural development in many novels are derived from situations existing within the culture and from traditional oral literature. In depicting character, novelists emphasize African social values and develop characterization with reference to the present problems facing individuals in contemporary African societies. Verbal and narrative style in the novels are also clearly influenced by local idiom and the patterns of the indigenous languages. In general, novels by Anglophone African novelists show how the social motivations of the novelist and his cultural situation control his development of themes and his exercise of technique.

Around the end of the 1930's, when American science fiction was just beginning to emerge, the literature of scientific imagination had already several traditions in France stemming from Jules Verne, J.-H. Rosny the Elder, Maurice Renard and many popular novelists. This literature, however, never succeeded in establishing itself as a literary genre in its own right. It was only with the discovery of American science fiction in the fifties that science fiction was recognized as such in France. / The problematic situation of French science fiction before and after 1950 can only be explained by means of sound hypotheses concerning the genological specificity of science fiction, on the one hand, and a thorough textual analysis of works reflecting the various strains of imagination in our period, on the other hand. / The introduction reviews the current state of research in science fiction, focussing on the main essays on the history and theory of the genre. We then expose our own hypotheses on science fiction as a "poetics of otherness". / An examination of French science fiction from 1918 to 1968 reveals that the genre is made up of heterogeneous strains, despite a real community of themes. There are five such strains, which we analyze through five authors exemplifying their specific characteristics: (1) A strain whose particular characteristic is the appeal of "otherness": J.-H. Rosny the Elder; (2) A strain that could be called "middle-of-the-road science fiction", which is a blend of science fiction proper, the fantastic and the popular novel: Maurice Renard; (3) The "catastrophic imagination" strain: Jacques Spitz; (4) The mass-produced science fiction strain: B. R. Bruss; (5) A strain characterized by an "imaginative drift": Stefan Wul. / In conclusion, the chronic state of crisis of French science fiction is interpreted as a symptom of the difficulty in achieving this literary genre's potential as a "poetics of otherness".

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The purpose of this paper is to explore Soviet science fiction; that is, all science fiction published in Russia after 1917 to about 1967. The selection of literature from the 1960's was random; the selection from previous years was determined principally by its availability: about three-fourths of all the works examined belong to the last decade insofar as I can determine from publishing dates and critical sources; somewhat less than three-fourths of all the authors whose works were read wrote mainly in the post World War II era, and half of the novel-length works used in the preparation of the paper were published before World War II. It is impossible to ascertain if these proportions accurately reflect the varying production of science fiction during this period, but it is probably true that much more sf was published in the last decade in Russia than in previous years. What are the themes with which the authors of science fiction are occupied? Have they changed since the 'twenties? How closely does science fiction resemble the rest of Soviet literature? Has it become, as American science fiction after World War II became, a vehicle for social criticism? It is a rapidly growing body of literature that has just recently begun to attract serious consideration of its literary merits. It has a small but devoted audience. I intend to explain what this audience reads and evaluate the genre objectively and critically. / Arts, Faculty of / Central Eastern Northern European Studies, Department of / Graduate

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