ABSTRACT

As creative writers we produce dialogue between others, first-person narratives representing others, and in various ways the voices of characters not ourselves. Problems can arise when we feign other-culture, other-gender, other-era or other-aged voices. In this context, the case of Frederick Kohner and his character Gidget, based on his daughter Kathy, provides insights. This article suggests that the older-generation spin, the male slant, and the European culture perspective which Kohner massaged into the teenage voice of his Gidget books (1957–1968) was precisely why they were successful both commercially and as teenage literature in the 1950s and 60s. Kohner nuanced his daughter Kathy’s voice so that it spoke to her peers as well as to a larger world. Occasionally in the argument I reference my own involvement in writing novels from the perspective of a teenager.

摘要

作为创意作家，我们创作他人之间的对话、代表他人的第一人称叙事，以及以各种方式表达角色而非我们自己的声音。当我们假装其他文化、其他性别、其他时代或其他年龄的声音时，问题就会出现。在这种情况下，弗雷德里克·科纳 (Frederick Kohner) 和他的角色吉吉特 (Gidget) 以女儿凯西 (Kathy) 为原型的案例提供了见解。这篇文章表明，科纳在他的Gidget少年的声音中融入了老一辈的旋转、男性倾向和欧洲文化视角书籍（1957-1968）正是它们在 1950 年代和 60 年代在商业和青少年文学方面取得成功的原因。Kohner 对他女儿 Kathy 的声音进行了细致入微的处理，以便它能够与她的同龄人以及更大的世界对话。偶尔在争论中，我会从青少年的角度提到我自己参与写小说的过程。