Shadow narratives – leise politische Töne im Adoleszenzroman

Zusammenfassung

The precise outcome of any adolescence is always open, and this openness is the reason for the many variations we find in literary representations of adolescence (cf. “die kulturgeschichtlichen Grundlagen für vielfältige Varianten von Adoleszenzdarstellungen in der Literatur” (Gansel 2000, 364)). Every adolescent novel is as individual as adolescence. This individuality also applies to political topics: Although not ostensibly political, political themes may be inherent in these novels. Russell Reising’s term “shadow narratives” (Reising 2002, 323) can be used to foreground the political topics. All texts analyzed in this article have in common their narrative orientation toward societal tendencies, which are either supported or criticized through the novel. The political strand will mostly be a “shadow narrative” due to genre norms, because dominant narratives will always tend to focus on the typical topics of the adolescent novel.