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Dissertation Information for Susan McEnally Jackson

NAME:
- Susan McEnally Jackson
- (Alias) Susan M. Jackson

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (USA) (1986)

ADVISORS:
- Susan Steinfirst

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Haynes McMullen
- Budd Leslie Gambee
- Mary Emily Kingsbury
- William Palmer

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: The History of the Junior Novel in the United States, 1870-1980.

Abstract: This study investigated the emergence and development of the junior novel and related this development to changing beliefs about adolescence and to demographic and social factors. Four significant growth stages were evident. Between 1870 and 1890, the junior novel emerged in the form of the family story for girls. While boys were going to work at an early age and becoming economically independent, teenage girls remained in the home in a state of prolonged dependency on their parents. Publishers recognized this group as a potential audience and responded with the family story that focused on topics of interest to girls on the verge of womanhood. Boys' stories reached no comparable degree of sophistication but remained stories of external adventure because boys' involvement in the market place prevented the emergence of a clearly-defined group of male adolescents. Between 1891 and 1930, the withdrawal of boys from the labor force brought recognition of male as well as female adolescents, and the junior novel for boys appeared in the form of the school sports story. Changing social roles for women brought diversification in girls' books. Between 1931 and 1960, a fundamental change occurred when thematic emphasis shifted from providing models of proper conduct to fostering the social and personal adjustments associated with adolescence. Developments in education and psychology precipitated this shift. The fourth period was between 1961 and 1980. During these years, a radical transformation in the concept of childhood took place that significantly altered the parameters within which junior fiction was allowed to develop. Previously, content had been limited by a protectionist policy designed to assuage adult fears of adolescent precocity and to guard the assumed innocence of readers. The gradual acceptance of the psychoanalytical view of the man along with other social factors led to a challenge to this protectionist policy. The result has been a pluralistic contemporary view of what is acceptable content, allowing a pessimistic tone, the inclusion of explicit sexual incidents, and the use of the ironic mode.

MPACT Scores for Susan McEnally Jackson

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:19:54

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