Thinking about a course on literary boyhoods - what are your favourite novels/poems/plays/films (any era) which tap into masculinity and coming of age?
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Maybe a bit young but Philippa Pearce’s A Dog So Small for the way animals are an acceptable outlet for otherwise taboo care/softness/emotion generally in post-war boyhood.
am even now reading Andrew O'Hagan's Mayflies but not sure how it'd land in California!! 2 Gents (am contractually obliged etc etc) and R&J. Brideshead. Song of Achilles. LOTS of Dickens. Portrait of the Artist. Some of Surrey's sonnets. War poetry. History Boys. Really interesting thought!!
Yes, I’ve been thinking along some similar lines but for IDIOT reasons History Boys hadn’t occurred to me. Some fab ideas here. Still early days (i.e. Day 1 of Thinking). Might have to include Heartstopper 🥹
For neurodivergent boyhood: The Curious Incident of the dog in the Nighttime. Black boyhood: All the Boys aren’t Blue and Moonlight, the play and the film. Not favorites, but would you include colonial gems such as Peter Pan and The Jungle Book?
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_Swim%2C_Two_Boys?wprov=sfla1
A Shropshire Lad