Displaced Fictions: Contemporary Australian Books for Teenagers and Young Adults [Paperback]

Heather Scutter (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0522848133 | ISBN-13: 978-0522848137 | Publication Date: April 28, 1999 | Edition: First Edition

Heather Scutter stresses the importance of educating critical readers, alert to the ways in which ideas and values are constructed. In Displaced Fictions she offers a new, challenging and iconoclastic analysis of contemporary Australian books for teenagers and young adults. Her lively and provocative text looks at the work of such writers as Gary Crew, Gillian Rubinstein, Nadia Wheatley, Isobelle Carmody, Paul Jennings, John Marsden, Morris Gleitzman and Sonya Hartnett.

This passionate, humorous and - above all - committed book demonstrates the pressing need for greater scrutiny of the politics of young adult fiction. Displaced Fictions makes compelling reading for all parents, students, teachers, librarians and general readers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Displaced Fictions will upset and enrage many, but Scutter should be praised for having had the courage to go public with her convictions and for the clarity with which they are argued. . . . Several times her analysis sent me back to the text for another reading and another perspective.' -- Ruth Starke, Viewpoints, Winter 1999

'Secondary school teachers and parents who want to encourage their children to be lovers of literature may find this analysis of Australian fiction for young adults a little confronting. Or, they may find Heather Scutter's iconoclastic message that "books are not holy objects" a timely one.' -- Fiona Capp, The Age, 24 April 1999

'The strength of Displaced Fictions is in its perceptive disentangling of some threads running through the literature . . . [Heather Scutter] has succeeded in dragging youth literature out of its cosiness.' -- Robin Morrow, The Australian, 22 May 1999

Displaced Fictions will upset and enrage many, but Scutter should be praised for having had the courage to go public with her convictions and for the clarity with which they are argued. . . . Several times her analysis sent me back to the text for another reading and another perspective. -- Ruth Starke, Viewpoints, Winter 1999

Secondary school teachers and parents who want to encourage their children to be lovers of literature may find this analysis of Australian fiction for young adults a little confronting. Or, they may find Heather Scutter's iconoclastic message that "books are not holy objects" a timely one. -- Fiona Capp, The Age, 24 April 1999

The strength of Displaced Fictions is in its perceptive disentangling of some threads running through the literature . . . [Heather Scutter] has succeeded in dragging youth literature out of its cosiness. -- Robin Morrow, The Australian, 22 May 1999

There are some who insist that reviewers should concentrate on questions of literary quality and not criticise matters of content, particularly where they touch on moral concerns. However, that view, as Heather Scutter showed recently in her admirably stirring book Displaced Fictions, is quite properly open to vigorous debate. -- Stephen Matthews, Australian Book Review, September 1999

About the Author

Heather Scutter lectures on Children's Literature in the English Department at Monash University, and also gives workshops on Australian young adult fiction to practising secondary teachers. In earlier incarnations she was an English teacher in secondary schools and a 'reading mum' at primary schools. She has two teenage children.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Melbourne University Publishing; First Edition edition (April 28, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0522848133
• ISBN-13: 978-0522848137
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,790,009 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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