The emergence of female adolescent protagonists in selected twentieth-century novels from French Canada, Germany and Austria

The history of adolescent protagonists in adult literature is relatively brief. Young heroes and heroines only begin to appear significantly in narratives at the turn of the twentieth century, since the concept of adolescence is relatively new. During the first half of the 19003 the number of novels written with female adolescent protagonists in countries such as Austria, Germany, and Canada varies substantially. In German-speaking countries there are relatively few novels with young heroines, although this tendency has increased since the students' and women's movements in the late 19603 and early 19703. In contrast, works depicting female adolescent protagonists occur more frequently in French-Canadian novels written by female authors throughout and even before the twentieth century. The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate and compare themes in four twentieth-century novels which have female adolescent protagonists. These themes include the expression of love and sexuality, the individual’s relationships with friends and family members, the young woman’s response to a crisis, and the influence of social institutions. Care was taken to select novels which represent different historical periods of this century. Two of the novels are from German-speaking countries: Die Klosterschule (1968) by the Austrian novelist Barbara Frischmuth and Nach Mitternacht (193 7) by the German author Irmgard Keun. Two French-Canadian novels have been chosen: Gabrielle Roy's Rue Deschambault (1955) and Anne Hébert’s Les Fous de Bassan (1982).