Abstract

This study probes into the new norms which contribute to American young adult literature by California Blue. This can be demenstrated from the aspacts of the theme, the pespective of thought dimention and the growth of teenagers in this novel. Based on the development of American young adult literature, the study of individualism and environmental awareness in the Ametican society and love issues in the young adult works, California Blue with new literary norms comes out remarkably, centering on the growth of teenagers in combination with enviromental conservation and ecological protection. The previous study of young adult novels show that they share many similarities and follow similar norms, but they seldom combine the initiation story with environmental issue which fights against individualism. Moreover, love in the young adult literature is always accompanied with misery, regret, growth after struggle. However, there are other aspects in the love experience, which can be simple process, direct expression, natural and peaceful ending. These are all demonstrated in the California Blue and they can be regarded as the new norms. Doing the study of new norms in the American young adult work helps to find out the novelty of the literary creation and give a new pespective of literature conception, thus the significance is quite far-reaching.

KEYWORDS:new norms;  American adult literature; California Blue; environmental protection

摘  要

本研究考查《加利福尼亚蓝蝶》对美国青少年文学新范式的开拓。这可从主题角度、思想层面和小说中青少年成长历程等几个方面来论述。小说《加利福尼亚蓝蝶》以美国成长小说的发展及对美国社会中的个人主义与环保意识和成长小说里的爱情的研究为基础，着重把青少年的成长历程和保护环境结合在一起，特色鲜明，范式新颖。先前对青少年文学的研究表明这类小说有着很多相似点、相近的范式，但是几乎没有小说把成长的历程与反对个人主义的环保问题联系在一起。此外，青少年文学中的爱情故事一向都伴随着痛苦、悔恨以及在挣扎中的成长。但是，爱情还有另外几面，如简单的过程，直接的表白和自然而平静的结局，这些都表现在《加利福尼亚蓝蝶》这部小说中，也被看作是新准则。对美国青少年文学新范式的开拓的研究有利于探索文学创作的新意，给予文学构思一种全新的视角，由此观之，其意义颇为深远。

关键词:新范式；美国青少年文学；《加利福尼亚蓝蝶》；环境保护

1    Introduction
American young adult literature has developed rapidly since its emergence in the 1930 as a new type of literature. Among quite a lot of researches and studies related to the young adult literature, we can find there exist shared similarities, which are known as “norm”, in the plots of initiation stories on various subjects. However, in the novel California Blue written by David Klass, some new norms, centering on the growth of teenagers in combination with environmental conservation and ecological protection, stand out to claim both readers’ and scholars’ attention.