Does any piece of science fiction correspond to YAL?

by Jésica Torres

In the last decades, it seems that science fiction has become a popular genre for young adult readers and writers as well. “The Starry Rift”, an anthology of original stories edited by Jonathan Strahan, is a result of this rising market and an attempt to re-invent science fiction for the young adult readers of today. However, I believe that “The dismantle invention of fate”, a fictional short story written by Jeffery Ford, has been mistakenly included within this compilation as I would not consider it a case of young adult literature but as a case of science fiction for elder readers.

It has been psychologically proved that teenagers are interested in reading stories that tie in with their own personal experience and life stage. They want to feel identified with the characters and the situations they are living and to place themselves in the hero’s role and fantasize about it. In the case of the story “The dismantle invention of fate”, the main character is an ancient astronaut who, in spite of telling the adventures he has lived when young, he does it from an adult point of view. This fact may give young readers a sense different time and context. It is known that teenagers are not likely to feel identified with old people’s stories that were lived in another time that it is not the days they are living in.

Another feature that supports the idea that this tale should not be included within young adult literature is the fact that it deals with concepts teenagers are not familiar with. Once again, the age of the protagonist is a key element since he reveals the feelings that arouse in him when remembering his youth. As an adult, he manages concepts and has experienced feelings like loss, nostalgia and fate which may not be meaningful for teenagers as they may not have lived or experienced them yet because of the period of life they are passing through.

In conclusion, I believe that the aspects previously mentioned need to be considered when deciding which texts may be interesting for young adults to read or not. It is not that any piece of fictional literature would be attractive for teens just because of its literary genre. Fictional stories need to be appealing for adolescents and to manage concepts and experiences which young people can feel identified with. Only if the literary text fulfils these requirements, it can be considered as young adult literature, which is not the case of “The dismantle invention of fate”.