University of Strathclyde

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CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

Melvin Burgess, Doing It (2003)

1. Sex in Children's Literature (Children's Books in English, pp.644-46).
1.1 'In children's literature sexual intercourse began not – as the poet Philip Larkin had ironically suggested – in 1963, but in 1975 with the publication of Judy Blume's Forever ... a book that exerted a long-lasting influence on writing about sex for young adults. The novelist set out to write explicitly about sex for teenage readers and wrote what is almost a sex manual with its very factual descriptions of both the physical act and its emotional impact. The book charts Katherine's first sexual relationship and her conviction that it will last forever despite her parents' disbelief. ... The implication throughout the book is that sex is a normal teenage activity and that young readers need to be taught about both the physical and the emotional experience of sex' (pp.644-45).
1.2 Another pioneer was Aidan Chambers's Breaktime (1978).
1.3 'the early 1980s yielded a crop of novels that determinedly used sex as a way of promoting themselves for a teenage readership' (p.645).
1.4 'Although most of the emphasis during the 1980s was on heterosexual sex, a number of titles made use of the new-found freedom – particularly before the spread of AIDS – to write about homosexual relationships, although lesbian relationships still proved an unpopular topic' (p.646): Aidan Chambers, Dance on My Grave (1982); Jean Ure, The Other Side of the Fence (1986); Morris Gleitzman, Two Weeks with the Queen (1989); Suzanne Bosche, Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin (1983) - see 'Gay and Lesbian Literature for Children and Young Adults', Children's Books in English, pp.281-2.
1.5 'With the spread of AIDS in the late 1980s and the changing public attitude towards promiscuity, the sexual content of a teenage novel was no longer a strong selling point. Although authors do not now avoid sex, a sexual relationship tends to be written about explicitly only if it is relevant to the plot or the character development' (p.646).
1.6 Ian Strachan, The Boy in the Bubble (1993); Ruth Elwyn Harris, The Dividing Sea (1989); Robert Westall, Falling Into Glory (1993); Michelle Magorian, A Little Love Song (1991); Martin Waddell, Tango's Baby (1995); Berlie Docherty, Dear Nobody (1991), etc.
1.7 'In contemporary novels it seems that the lessons are mostly implicit: sex is an accepted part of young adult life, but its consequences cannot be ignored and without love it becomes worthless' (p.646).

2. Melvin Burgess: see Burgess's Homepage.
2.1 'Burgess ... is regarded as one of the rising stars of contemporary children's literature. Issues of current and enduring concern such as the hunting of animals, disability, homelessness, witchcraft, child abuse and drugs are boldly confronted. ... Junk (1996) won both the 1997 Guardian Award for Children's Fiction and the Carnegie Medal. Based on first-hand research, the book is set in inner-city Bristol in the early 1980s. Successive monologues sustain the narrative drive which documents the viewpoints of teenage characters caught up in the seductive lure and downward spiral of drug addiction. Accessible to a wide range of young people the book generated strong debate as to its suitability for teenage readers. Because of its uncompromising representation of violence, under-age sex and psychological ambiguities, similar controversy greeted Bloodtide (1999)' (Children's Books in English, p.115).
2.2 Lady: My Life as a Bitch (2001) also controversial.
2.3 Wonderful books for younger readers, e.g., An Angel for May (1992).

3. Doing It (2003) most controversial of all.
3.1 Anne Fine (then Children's Laureate): 'Filth, which ever way you look at it: Review of Doing It' (Guardian, March 29, 2003) – see Guardian Unlimited website:

The strapline across the bound proofs in front of me claim this book (to be published in May) is Melvin Burgess's "latest assault on teenage morals". The Observer's quite wrong there. Young girls will be begging their parents to send them to single sex schools. Reading this will put many off dating for years. What are three separate children's publishers thinking of, peddling this grubby book, which demeans both young women and young men? It will prove as effective a form of sexual bullying as any hardcore porno mag passed round. And, make no mistake, the publishers may slap a warning and a picture of a condom on the front and substitute a grown-up penguin for a puffin, but it was the children's publisher Andersen Press that commissioned this novel. It is Random House Children's Books who have it in their catalogue beside Emma Chichester Clark's Up in Heaven and Ken Brown's What's the Time, Grandma Wolf? (ages 4 and up). And the people who are putting most into this book are Penguin Children's Books, who were thrilled to win the paperback auction. ... [Penguin] ... has justified its choice by claiming the book is a fine piece of work, "deserving of serious literary criticism" ... My own favourite lines are "Mad with lust, but terrified of authority ... " and "All he could do was cling helplessly to her breasts like a shipwrecked sailor". ... Penguin's next argument relates to the virtues of "realism". God help the publishers and their grubby little lives if they think this tosh is realistic. Do young female teachers really flash their knickers at pupils, and give them countless blow jobs behind school stage curtains – even falsify maths reports to create detentions that offer more time for the lad's priapic efforts? ("An erection on the front of him like a concrete pillar." "I could have harpooned a walrus with it.") Even if they did (which they don't), it's no good argument. Serial murderers do unspeakable things and even adult publishing houses face honourable resignations when they decide to publish graphic accounts. ... It'll get boys to read, Penguin says. Well, teachers won't be handing it out, once they've got to the bit where the lad brags "I sucked Miss's tits and know what colour pubes she has". ... Why should girls' self-esteem and self-respect be sacrificed in the unlikely hope that, instead of standing in the corner of the classroom sniggering while someone else reads out the marked filthy bits, each reluctant reader will go to the library to fill in a request card? ... No girl or young woman should ever have to read these vile, disgusting musings about themselves. The publishers may claim they are the real thoughts of young men. But would they be pushing the ignorant, upsetting views of four racists, or four anti-semites on the grounds these foul, deluded people really do think this way? No, they would not. They would leave this age group to have to make an effort to find that sort of filth for themselves. All of the publishers who have touched this novel should be deeply ashamed of themselves. Astonishingly, they are almost all female. It's time they sat round a table, took a good long look at themselves and decided that it was an indefensible decision to take this book on. They should pulp their own copies now.

3.2 Responses to Fine: see links to letters on Guardian Unlimited; see Burgess's reaction (plus links to positive reviews) on his Homepage; Kit Spring, 'Melvin Burgess's Doing It has been called vile, but that's just how teenagers are' (Observer, 13 April 2003):

Well, he's been and gone and done it again. Melvin Burgess's previous novel for teenagers, Lady: My Life as a Bitch (a tale of a girl who gets turned into a dog and finds the freedom and the sex life fantastic), outraged society's moral guardians. His latest book – called simply, yet succinctly, Doing It – has got their knickers into even more of a twist. The children's laureate, Anne Fine, leapt into print in the Guardian with a polemic that used adjectives such as 'vile', 'disgusting', 'foul and deluded' and 'filth'. None of which is likely to drive teen readers away as would, say, 'worthy', or 'improving'. So what's all the fuss about? Burgess describes Doing It as a 'knobby book for boys'. He says: 'Young male culture hasn't really been written about – for reasons which are now fairly obvious!' But although he admits to having been 'a little shaken' when he heard about Fine's reaction, he was reassured after reading it. 'It's just a rant. She's a clever woman. She could have done a much better hatchet job on it.' He adds: 'A lot of people read the book after I'd finished it. Men recognised themselves in it and women found it funny and felt quite tender and protective towards the boys in it. I think it says a lot for the sensitivity of teenagers that they have kept the way they really think away from people like Anne Fine.' In fact, Fine's review consists of copying out all the 'gross' bits in the book and ignoring everything else. It's true that there are plenty of these examples, but Fine has taken them all out of context – that context being boys showing off when they talk about sex, because that's the only way to do it without being churned up with embarrassment at ignorance and lack of experience. She's wrong to think that any teenager would be shocked, and she's especially wrong to say: 'No girl or young woman should ever have to read these vile disgusting musings about themselves,' and to compare those musings to 'the views of racists or anti-semites'. Doing It is funny, honest and touching with engagingly mixed-up protagonists. And it is certainly not misogynous. In fact, the narration is taken up by the three main female characters in turn with the boys. The girls aren't really much more clued-up than the boys about their feelings, and they are voiced very empathetically. Burgess is a realistic, but utterly uncynical author, who make us sympathise with his teenage 'heroes' even while laughing (and wincing) at them. The novel focuses on Ben, Jonathan and Dino, who are best friends, 17 and almost completely at the mercy of their hormones. They are also good-looking, nice, middle-class boys. ... This boldly comic book has a serious core and a great deal of heart. I wouldn't give it to my 13-year-old daughter to read now. But I'll hand it over happily in a couple of years. It'll make her feel better. Everyone knows teenage boys are gross. Now we know they're human too.

3.3 Two reviews on cool-reads website: 4 star (Chris, aged 15); 5 star (Ruth Parks, aged 14).

3.4 Reviews from Amazon (rated 4 stars overall):

(5 stars) This book was an excellent read and also perfect for teens who really know what its [sic] all about. Melvin Burgess perfectly describes what it is like to be a teenage boy from 4 different points of view with 4 different scenarios. This would also be a perfect read for perants [sic] who want to know whats [sic] going on in there [sic] son/daughters [sic] life... I strongly recomend [sic] you read this book who ever you are it is hilarious, insightful and a joy to read. (A reader from Durham)

[5 stars] Melvin Burgees does it again, he takes a subject that isnt [sic] talked about and makes it so that it is talkable. Even though i am a girl and he wrote it for boys, it is still another amazing book from an amazing author. (shiningsea from Scotland)

[4 stars] ther [sic] has been alot [sic] of controversy surrounding this book, even going as far as calling it "child porn". But it is all utterly ridiculous and clearly the people who criticise this book have forgotten what it is like to be 16 or 17, or were never that age. Certainly it is written for THIS generation of teenagers, which are different to older generations but being 29 I did identify with it and it was exactly how my teenagehood was! ... Far from being pornographic and misogynistic, this book is funny, relevant, and entirely modern. whats [sic] more - it is REAL. And for the worry mongers out there - condoms are used, theres [sic] even one on the cover lest we forget! Loved this book! (primitivegrll from Baillieston)

[3 stars] It is ugly to read and indicative of a dearth of vocabulary. But the author was only trying to reflect the language in common parlance amongst many teenagers today, so I do not criticise him for that. Ignoring the 'F' words therefore, what are we left with? A surprisingly sensitive and amusing account of the worries and sexual obsessions of three teenagers which, far from being immoral, revealed the vulnerabilities of the main characters. I'm neither a teenager nor male so I can't say whether or not the author captured the true torments of boys of that age, but he did succeed in creating ultimately sympathetic portraits of the 'heroes'. The girls were perhaps a little less convincing, but again the author managed to convey their characters in a compelling manner. There's plenty of humour (probably more obvious to an adult) which made me laugh aloud. I'm hiding the book from my ten-year-old daughter (who has been forbidden to look for it) for a few years as it is clearly inappropriate for anyone below the age of puberty, but I look forward to hearing her reaction to it when she is of a suitable age to read it. (A reader from Wales)

4. These reviews raise fundamental issues about children's/young adults' literature.
4.1 Should such literature represent/explore reality of (some) contemporary children's/young adults' world/experiences, or should it represent ideal/uplifting characters/world views for readers to aspire to?
4.2 Who are the ultimate judges of children's/young adults' literature and reading – publishers, parents, teachers, critics (all adults) or children/young adults themselves? Do we know better than younger readers?
4.3 Similar anxieties throughout history of children's literature, beginning with C17 puritan concerns about harmful effects of fiction (e.g., fairy tales).
4.4 Doing It (plus mostly positive endorsements by adults and young readers) indicates how conceptions of children/young adults and children's/young adults' literature have been utterly transformed in period covered by this class.

5. The text.
5.1 Narrative technique – third-person narration, with shifting focalisation between different characters, plus passages of first-person narration assigned to each central character; reveals mismatch between way these teenage boys represent themselves and (a) way others – particularly the girls – view them, (b) reality of their experiences, and (c) their inner anxieties and sensibilities.
5.2 Allows us to laugh at/sympathise with inner lives of apparently gross teenage boys; also insight into why girls might go for them (plus girls' inner struggle as they wrestle with conflict between reason and hormones).

6. 'Either Or' (pp.1-7).
6.1 Third-person narrative, with focalisation, reveals contrast between boys' outward behaviour and inner life (p.4); two are still virgins (p.6).

7. The Incredible Journey (pp.8-17).
7.1 Dino's aspirations: oscillation between objective third person narrative and focalisation on Dino (pp.8-9).
7.2 Switch to focalisation on Jackie (pp.10, 14, 16-17).

8. Ben's story: The Secret History (pp.18-28).
8.1 Narrative technique allows combination of irony and sympathy: (p.20) – comically absurd overstatement indicates focalisation on Ben's own inner braggadocio – it's Ali Young who's the predator here (pp.27-28), and he's 'hopelessly out of his depth' (p.26).
8.2 Another sentence that Anne Fine quotes out of context and misreads/misrepresents (she claims that Ben is bragging):

He thought to himself, 'I just lost my virginity ...' ... But who cared? (p.28)

Reverse of bragging? Ben has remained discrete: 'He kept his word ... to get things back on track' (p.22); knows he can't brag about his affair with her, and doesn't mind (later, schoolboy fantasy turns into nightmare, and he can't tell anyone).

9. Dino (pp.29-41).
9.1 First-person narration (pp.29-33) – reveals immaturity even as he wants to make good impression; comic cut to third-person focalisation on Dino (p.33).
9.2 Focalisation on Dino's attempt to deal with witnessing his mother with Dave Short (pp.33-40).
9.3 Dino's on-going strategies for getting Jackie into bed (p.41).

Seminar

Which response to Doing It is more accurate or convincing - Anne Fine's or Kit Spring's? Be prepared to support your opinion by quoting and analysing any aspect of the novel that seems relevant, including literary technique, irony, language, particular passages or characters, the question of readership and possible effect, the changing representation of childhood/young adulthood, etc.

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