In the forty years or so since it began to develop as a sub-genre of young adult fiction, post-disaster fiction has commented on a range of issues, including perceived social fears of the time, the nature of various types of society, and what people need in order to be truly human. This paper explores how young adult post-disaster fiction makes comment on these and other issues. It argues that within this genre there are three connected sub-genres, with the disaster having a different function in each, and the nature of the comments made by each of these sub-genres tending also to be different. As its title suggests, this paper includes texts in which the focus is on life after the disaster. The genre’s strong link with both the nature of young adult fiction and with adolescence itself suggests that it will continue to flourish as a sub-genre.
History
Journal
Papers : explorations into children's literature
Volume
20
Pagination
5 - 19
Location
Burwood, Vic.
Open access
Yes
ISSN
1034-9243
eISSN
1837-4530
Language
eng
Notes
Reproduced with the specific permission of the copyright owner.
Publication classification
C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal
Copyright notice
2010, Deakin University, School of Communication and Creative Arts