Notes
207 Notes Chapter 1 1. As many critics have noted, familiar, relatable first-person narration has become something of a hallmark of contemporary adolescent literature; indeed, that this narrative construction has become so common means that it has almost been taken for granted rather than serving as a focus for the type of analysis I perform. In “Shift out of First: Third-Person Narration Has Advantages,” first published in 1983, Elizabeth Schummann refers to first-person narration as the “preferred technique” in young adult literature (314). This trend and critical assessments of it have become even more pointed in the last two decades. Emma Heyde claims, “If a single feature could be said to characterize writing for young adults in the late 1990s, it would be first-person narrative” (65). For a detailed discussion of the uses and potential authenticity of the adolescent voice in young adult novels, see Mike Cadden’s “The Irony of Narration in the Young Adult Novel.” 2. Psychological studies have repeatedly found that intimacy generally has a positive impact on people’s feelings of happiness and self-worth. Brenda Schaeffer describes intimacy as “a profound expression of our identities that leaves us in a euphoric state” (57–58), while Karen J. Prager has asserted that intimacy is imbued with “affect, which is positive and reflects feelings of warmth, acceptance, caring, love, pride, and appreciation” (242). Carin Rubenstein and Phillip Shaver, furthermore, emphatically encourage readers to “realize that intimacy and friendship are sources of health; they prolong life” (202, emphasis in original). 3. Derlega and Chaikan cite an example of a man on a train who tells his seatmate, a stranger, about problems at home and work; in the midst of this disclosure, the man indicates that he has not been able to tell his wife or friends this information. Another example that has become a staple in popular culture involves strangers becoming 208 Notes trapped in an elevator or other confined space and quickly divulging their hopes, fears, and deepest secrets to one another. Indeed, this trend has become so prevalent that Jessica Darling, narrator of a series of books to be discussed in the fifth chapter, comments, “I know . . . that people are inclined to reveal intimate details to people they barely know because it somehow feels more anonymous, and therefore safer, than talking to a friend or family member. It’s the same principle that keeps psychotherapists in business” (McCafferty, Thirds 256). 4. In his article “Faux Friendship,” William Deresiewicz asserts that these sites “have falsified our understanding of intimacy itself, and with it, our understanding of ourselves. The absurd idea . . . that a MySpace profile or ‘25 Random Things About Me’ can tell us more about someone than even a good friend might be aware of is based on desiccated notions about what knowing another person means.” I more closely consider the role of the Internet and new media in the conclusion, which discusses the ways in which social networking, online communities, and the digital distribution of fan created responses to literature influence and reshape relationships between authors, characters, and readers. 5. As Marnina Gonick notes, “In the current period, it has been teenage girls, rather than youth in general, who are the focus of social concern” (17). 6. In the introduction to this work, Shandler expresses her admiration of and gratitude to Pipher’s work but explains that she compiled the writing of adolescent women such as herself in order to “take the adult intermediary out from between us [adolescent women]. I wanted us to see one another’s intelligence and experience, pain and power directly, free from adult interpretation” (xiii). This move signals a desire on Shandler’s part for an intimate relationship with her adolescent women contributors and readers. 7. For the purposes of this discussion, particularly the defining and describing of the concept of narrative intimacy, several aspects of narrative theory may be addressed only briefly or not at all. For example, traditionally, discussions of the relationship between narrator and narratee have been concerned with questions of reliability, as narrative theorists have grappled with the degree to which the narrator presents truth (and Truth), as well as the degree to which the narratee and implied reader are meant to understand the narrator as a truth- (and Truth-)teller. However, for the purposes of this discussion, questions of reliability must be limited in favor of a larger discussion of relatability. In...
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