Adolescent Female Portraits in the American Novel 1961-1981

Book excerpt: Originally published in 1983, this title lists and annotates reference sources which will help readers select primary materials useful in studies of the literary portraits of women and their societal roles. The years 1961 to 1981 were set as boundaries for this volume because the author’s initial research revealed that a twenty-year span was a manageable unit, because the novels published between those dates yielded abundant materials for such a reference work, and because significant changes in the way portraits of adolescent females were being drawn took place during the period – for example, sex-role stereotyping became a shade less prevalent, young women’s sexuality was discussed more forthrightly, and some topics (such as single women’s pregnancies and lesbianism) were treated more overtly, sometimes less judgementally.