Should Adults read Young Adult Literature - Essay Example

Should Adults read Young Adult Literature? Young adult literature, commonly coined as YA refers to fiction that is written, published, and targeted for adolescents or young adults market. YA literature is traditionally catered towards audiences aged between 12 and 18 years (Graham). Recently, YA literature has soared in popularity and become among the fasted growing book classification among publishers. It is reported that more than 715 million books in the category were sold in 2013 and mostly to adults (Donelly). This indicates the shift in target audience with more non-teenagers picking up this literature. It is an unfamiliar site to witness adults reading YA titles such as ‘Harry Porter’, ‘The Hunger Games’, and ‘the Fault in our stars’ these days as they have permeated into present-day pop culture. In her article titled ‘Against YA’, Ruth Graham castigates the growing number of adults reading the YA book category. She terms it as embarrassing and unacceptable for not young adults to read young-adult fiction. A thorough analysis of Graham’s article and a variety of responses to her text provides a basis for argument on whether adult readers should feel embarrassed in reading YA literature. In keeping up with present day pop culture, it is vital that adults read YA literature that has permeated deeply into society. The YA classification provides for an understanding into the current popular global trends in regards to art, film, and literature. YA literature such as ‘Twilight’, ‘the fault in our stars’, and ‘the hunger games’ have become adapted into popular and blockbuster films. This literature has provided further resonance among adult audience in regards to understanding present day teen culture. YA reflect upon timeless and universal issues that teenagers undergo. Issues on family, challenging authority, first crush, and first love provide a basis for adults to relate and understand teenagers further. These issues also provide a trip down memory lane for adults as they probably underwent through the same. The literature is compelling and gripping, and even adults are attracted to such kind of stories. Human beings in particular are attracted to things that they can resonate with or offer some semblance with their lives. YA literature has managed to do so through the themes it portrays in its books and adaptations. This has provided a reason for a rise in the number of adults turning their attention to this genre. Graham states that the storytelling and endings provided by YA are far too simple and are uniformly satisfying, which impacts negatively on adult-readers. This, she further pronounces, is a reason for adult readers to reject the category. In her article ‘Slate nailed it: YA and detective fiction are for rubes’, Lyndsay Faye supports this view. Faye states that there is a clear distinction between readers and serious readers (Faye). Both authors state that adult readers of YA literature prefer a simplistic world view that gets expressed in novels or books within the category. They negate YA literature for failing to provide the adult reader with subtle insight that may lie within the human race. Both authors point out that adult readers’ should rather involve themselves with complex texts that offer weird facts, big ideas, astonishing sentences, and unfamiliar characters. Faye and Graham also argue that reading YA literature causes adult readers’ intellect to remain immature and unable to comprehend literary fiction that exist under grown-up reading. This may also impact negatively on the young generation who look up to adult-readers. An increasing number of adult-readers who read YA literature may mean that teens aspire less to grown-up reading as the grown-ups have turned to reading their books. The rise in popularity of YA has resulted to a dumbing down of culture that is slowly grasping on adult readers of the genre. YA has witnessed an exponential growth in recent years as it has been marketed intensely. It is an uncommon site to witness a majority of books in book store shelves falling mostly under the YA genre. Not only is it common in book stores but also in Television and the Cinemas as a result of the many YA books that have become adapted as TV series or Movies. This has contributed to a rise in number of individuals engaging themselves with this genre. As more people immerse themselves in this pop culture, it becomes difficult to hold a significant number of people to read or discuss on the latest literary fiction in a serious way. In her article that supports young adult fiction, Elisabeth Donelly notes that it is true that books such as ‘the vampire diaries’ or ‘the fault in our stars’ would likely result in a discussion or analysis of who was the more likeable character rather than any sort of legitimate engagement with the books (Donelly). This is in alignment with Graham’s thoughts that the uniform satisfaction offered by YA should be a turn off for adult readers. According to Graham, readers who prefer non-complex endings lack ambition and are similar to those who want to read books containing ‘likeable’ protagonists (Graham). YA as a genre has become used as a marketing tool which has managed to capture audiences without actively seeking to engage the audiences through text. The commercialization of YA focuses on sales and what moves the audience emotions rather than any critical engagement. Graham does a disservice to her article by proclaiming all adult readers of YA as embarrassing. What Graham’s article fails to capture is that there is a distinction of the types of readers that do exist. There are adult readers who do not have a reading culture and would gladly pick up any literature without even noting its genre. Faye captures this quite brilliantly in her article by stating that there are readers, and then there are serious readers. Faye refers to readers as those who are interested in simplistic endings and YA’s simplistic world view. These readers can be considered as vocational readers who read for fun rather than for academic or critical engagement purposes. She describes serious readers as those who read seriously, critically engaging with their texts (Faye). They are interested in weird facts, big ideas, astonishing sentences, and unfamiliar characters within their engaged texts. This distinction would help Graham to clearly castigate any serious reader that would engage in YA. If an adult reader does not fall under serious readers, then there is no need to panic over the rising number of adults engaging themselves with YA. If, however, there is a rise in number of serious adult readers engaging themselves with the YA genre, then there is call for alarm due to the reasons provided by Graham in her article. In his article ‘we are losing the art of reading’ Anthony Miller notes that the pleasures derived from reading include solitude, patience, and contemplation (Miller). The pleasure of contemplation is what adult readers should seek to derive from reading adult fiction and not books aimed at teenagers or children. Ruth’s Graham article is bluntly true and unflinching. The tone and choice of words that she employs in driving her message is what has provided backlash against her article. To refer to any adult reader engaging themselves with YA as embarrassing is equal to calling for non-stop backlash. Not all adult readers have a deep connection with reading literature. Technological advancement in present day society has resulted to reduce the number of readers out there. It should thus be an encouragement to witness an adult trying his hand out on YA literature. To maintain and increase the number of active readers, any adult should not be termed as an embarrassment for reading YA. However, her observations are true. Adult readers should not read literature that is tailored for a teen market. Any adult who sees him/herself as a serious reader should not be deeply immersed into literature that is uniformly satisfying and provides simplistic plots, storyline, and ending. They should elevate themselves above this level of readership by engaging themselves with literature that requires critical engagement. Adult choices of literature should represent their progression in reading and literary analysis. Graham’s tone and choice of words make the adult-reader of YA to feel bad for reading. Reading is a choice that everyone undertakes on a personal basis. Therefore, everyone is entitled to read any genre of literature that they please too as Hillary Kelly notes in his article ‘in praise of reading whatever the hell you want’ (Kelly). Reading YA literature should not be painted in a negative light as Graham does. Various articles used for this synthesis note that there are actually good YA literature that do not provide the simplistic view castigated by Graham. However, for any serious reader, reading goes along with growth and maturity. The more one grows and matures, the more they should seek literature that befits their age. For any serious reader to move a step down from their reading ladder progression or remain on the same step implies that they have reached their saturation level. This should not be the case for serious readers, they may hit a block within their reading path but that does not mean the answer lies in turning back to literature aimed at teens or children. They should rather seek to expand their literary analysis and critical outlook by engaging further with complex literature. Adults reading YA should be politely encouraged to leave the past behind and engage themselves with literature that requires critical engagement. Works Cited Donelly, Elisabeth. Slate’s Condescending “Against YA” Couldn’t Be More Wrong — Young Adult Fiction Is for Everyone . 6 June 2014. 30 November 2014 . Faye, Lyndsay. Slate Nailed It: YA and Detective Fiction Are for Rubes. 10 June 2014. 30 November 2014 . Graham, Ruth. Against YA. 5 June 2014. 30 November 2014 . Kelly, Hillary. In Praise of Reading Whatever the Hell You Want. 5 June 2014. 30 Novemeber 2014 . Miller, Andy. We are losing the art of reading. 8 June 2014. 30 November 2014 . Read More