Fiction writing amidst today’s demand for representation

: ‘authenticity’ in young adult (YA) literature

Abstract

In the last decade, issues of representation have been increasingly brought to the surface across all areas, including literary fiction. In the United States and then across the world, young adult (YA) literature has opened up possibilities for experimentation when it comes to inclusivity in fiction. Subsequently, writers have been trying to keep up with the diversity needs while being faithful to their themes as well as their craft. These attempts at inclusion, deemed more or less effective/respectful, are highly criticized by an attentive (online) audience which not only demands this representation but also often scrutinizes the work in an attempt to further examine its authenticity. Although, as this research aims to show, when it comes to the representation of identities, diverse books matter, movements such as #OwnVoices have been taking this concept beyond fiction/narrative itself – advocating for the need of the writer’s profile to match the story they are depicting, which might be an extreme if not unhelpful solution. This dissertation, taking the case of the YA novel which has undoubtedly been at the center of and even encouraged these discussions, therefore explores how the issue of authenticity in literature, if taken to the extreme, may end up being detrimental not only to the cause itself but also to the very concept of fiction. In this sense, this dissertation aims to frame these complex discussions in the context which has made them possible: our polarized, hyper-mediated world, thus exploring how, despite seemingly straightforward, the nature of these debates may lie elsewhere than in insider/outsider distinctions or, even, in the concept (and ethics) of authenticity.

Date of Award	18 Dec 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Alexandra Lopes (Supervisor)