Romance for young adults…

By Nahir Penelas

 

Are Humans the only romantic creatures in the world? At least we can say that they are the only creatures who look desperate for a person to love. It was Romance written by Miranda July and published in 2005, is a contemporaneous story about desperate women trying to find love. The narrator of the story, a woman around 30 years old, attends a new age seminar about romance in order to find a solution to his single marital status. The protagonist, one of her mates called Teresa, and other girls who participate in the seminar, share the same feeling: they suffer from lonesomeness. They will work hard together to overcome obstacles and find her soul mate.

Miranda July shows a sensitive protagonist, who deals with love problems, and who doesn´t act as a real adult, but as a teenager. Friendship and love are the prevalent values of this short story.

Young Adult Literature (YAL) follows c ertain characteristics in order to catch teenager´s attention. It is important to mention that a story or a novel is considered YAL when it deals with universal topics such as love, family conflicts, teenage pregnancy, sexuality and the search for the self. Besides, the proximity of language and the length of the story influence the young adult readers’ choice of reading material. Teenagers prefer stories that use slang or simple words, and that are short in length. Having in mind these characteristics we might say that It was Romance can be considered a YAL story.

Donelson and Nilsen, known writers from this field of study, who have always worked promoting young adults´ reading, say that what makes a book YAL is the fact of being chosen by a reader from twelve to twenty years old. Consequently if a teen chooses this story, he will make it YAL. But why a teen would read It was Romance?

Robert Small an authority on YAL, points out the main characteristics that make a story YAL. The first one is that the main character should be a teenager, and that the events and problems in the plot should be related to him. According to this characteristic we might say that It was Romance is a YAL story. Even though the protagonist is an adult, she doesn´t act as one. She assists to a seminar in order to solve her love problems, but in general adults have many professional responsibilities among other duties to carry out, and for sure they won´t assist to a seminar with those characteristics. That is why we can assume the protagonist has immature attitude, similar to the one of an adolescent. Therefore Small characteristic, present in July´s work make it a YAL story, appealing for teens.

Small also says the teenage main character is usually perceptive, sensitive, intelligent, mature and independent.  These characteristics are appropriate to describe the main character of It was Romance. This can be clearly seen in the following extract,

 I walked down the hall and saw that Theresa was sitting on the floor next to a chair. This is always a bad sign (…) Theresa began to cry. I stopped with the patting and hugged her, and she hugged me back. I had made everything just horrible enough to bring Theresa’s sadness down to the next level, and I joined her there. It was a place of overflowing collaborative misery, and we cried together.

The protagonist represents the kind of main character YAL stories should include. The narrator knows how to empathize with her friend´s suffering and helps her listening and hugging her.

Lastly, Small points out that a story should be short in order to be considered YAL. Consequently, It was Romance responds to this characteristic because it is a 2-page story.

As we mentioned before, some universal topics, such as love, are appealing for teens. It was Romance problematizes love, an universal topic that may be interesting for teens as it is suggested by Holly Koelling  in her article “Makes Sense of teens as growing people and as readers”. Koelling says that at 11^th grade teens tend to have a strong focus on romantic relationships. Thus It was Romance may be really catchy for them at that stage.

Herz and Gallo suggest that some situational archetypes, such as the search for the self, should be included in YAL. Therefore this archetype is present in It was Romance. The main character, Teresa and the other participants of the seminar are not only trying to solve their love problems, but also to discover who they are in the world, and to reflect about their previous mistaken relationships. Subsequently the fact that the main character portrays an adult who is still in search for her real self, might makes this story a YAL one.

In conclusion, It was Romance can be considered a YAL story, because following most of the YAL marketing strategies suggested by Small, Koelling and Donelson & Nilsen, it might catch young adult reader´s attention. It is a simple and short story about Romance, with a sensitive main character, that might be appealing for adolescents.