This chapter explores the representation of non-binary protagonists in young adult (YA) fiction, how their coming-of-age stories are constructed, and what this demonstrates about how queer adolescence has been codified in narrative. Historically, the expectations of the queer coming-of-age story have been couched in the tradition of ‘issue novels’, with the locus of the plot and conflict stemming from the protagonist’s marginality within a homophobic and/or transphobic setting. These contemporar…
Read moreThis chapter explores the representation of non-binary protagonists in young adult (YA) fiction, how their coming-of-age stories are constructed, and what this demonstrates about how queer adolescence has been codified in narrative. Historically, the expectations of the queer coming-of-age story have been couched in the tradition of ‘issue novels’, with the locus of the plot and conflict stemming from the protagonist’s marginality within a homophobic and/or transphobic setting. These contemporary case studies demonstrate that queer YA is evolving beyond, and engaging with, these traditional restrictions, reconfiguring new possibilities for the queer coming-of-age story by engaging with genre and using its devices and expectations.
