Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Gimme a new idea that stood the test of time

Boychik lit is not new. It's a new label on an old tradition. Hollywood calls it the "coming-of-age" story, and the protagonist can be male or female. These movies are usually comedies, which makes sense--there's no great tragedy for a main character who still has his whole life ahead of him to repair whatever missteps he committed in the story. In this respect, Salinger's Catcher in the Rye and Roth's Portnoy's Complaint are mainstream boychik lit.

So might be Hamlet, for that matter--if only the Prince of Denmark had been able to run away to Spain with Ophelia and start a new network marketing company...

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