Donelson-Nilsen Award Winner

Angel Daniel Matos

First, congratulations on the Donelson-Nilsen Award. 

Thank you! I am absolutely thrilled to be honored with this award! It surely is nice to be recognized for doing what you love.

What led you to the topic of considering The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky as a Bildungsroman, or coming of age novel?

During the Spring Semester of 2012, I participated in a seminar entitled "Fictions of Development," which focused on the discussion of the different forms of personal, literary, and historical development that can take place within a given culture. In this seminar, we not only scrutinized the Bildungsroman genre, but we also compared and contrasted novels written by authors across the globe. During the seminar, I began to notice how many of the literary elements found within classic Bildungsromane such as Stendhal's The Red and the Black and Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship are also found within many contemporary young adult novels. With this in mind, I decided to genealogically trace how the concepts of growth and development prevalent in the Bildungsroman genre influence the creation of young adult novels, and how the young adult novel has also transformed out conceptions of the Bildungsroman. I thought that The Perks of Being a Wallflower would be a great case study, not only because I consider it to be an archetypal coming-of-age text, but also because it is hands down one of my favorite novels. I've always wanted to pay tribute to Perks, given how much it has inspired my academic work-and this seminar gave me the perfect opportunity to do so!    

Would you talk a little bit about the "categorical limbo" young adult literature often finds itself in, as described in the article?

The more I immerse myself into the realm of young adult literature, the more I find myself challenged to develop a stable definition of this genre! I characterized the genre as one that inhabits a categorical limbo precisely because it is difficult to develop accurate criteria for what does (or does not) constitute a young adult novel. Many journals, for instance, lump young adult fiction together with children's literature-and while I do see the value in this move, I also recognize that it is problematic. After all, young adult fiction depicts themes and issues that we would not often encounter in a children's book, particularly when it comes to issues of gender, sexuality, and violence. To further complicate matters, we should also consider issues of audience and of marketing. It is perhaps redundant to say, at this day and time, that young adult fiction is not only read by young adults. Also, we encounter cases in which some novels are deliberately marketed as both young adult and "adult" literature-such as in the case of Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. The genre of young adult literature seems to be not only elusive, but boundless. However, this is part of what fascinates me so much about young adult literature in the first place-it is multifaceted, it breaks boundaries of generation, and it speaks to people of all creeds and backgrounds.

One of the sidebars published with your article notes, "If we want to demonstrate to the world that young adult literature can and should be approached as 'Literature,' we have to look beyond the scope of the classroom and demonstrate that it is interesting and productive to approach the genre using prominent critical, literary, and cultural theories." You also include some suggested ways to use writing as a therapeutic tool for students. What are the benefits of this approach to scholarship that bridges theory and practice, or the humanities and social sciences?

When it comes to academia and the classroom, I think it is safe to assume that many people recognize the value of using young adult literature as a way of engaging students into the acts of reading, writing, and thinking. However, the value of young adult literature can, and should, extend far beyond its use as a pedagogical/heuristic aid. Young adult novels not only reflect culture, but some young adult novels (think along the lines of Harry Potter) have the power to produce culture as well. I included a sidebar on the application of critical and literary theories towards the study of young adult fiction as a challenge to both new and established scholars in the field. In addition to thinking about the pedagogical value of young adult literature, it is also important to think about the ways that young adult novels can generate knowledge in ways that challenge and augment the study of other literatures. If we restrict ourselves from approaching young adult literature in conjunction with other literary texts, we would be deliberately imposing a gap in our knowledge and understanding of literature. For instance, how can young adult novels shed light and/or complicate the study of areas such as gender, psychology, literary analysis, and sociology, among others? How can literary theory lead to the production of new, groundbreaking, and exciting readings of classic young adult texts? How does our understanding of a novel such as The Hunger Games change when interpreting it through the lens of queer theory, materiality studies, ecology, or structural violence? If literary merit is based on showing a text's capacity to be layered and complex, we must find ways to view young adult literature as more than a just a tool for teaching and learning.

Which theorists have been particularly useful to you in literary analysis? Who do you find yourself reading over and over?

Lately, I've been rather obsessed with the application of theories on queerness and time/temporality in my readings of young adult and other literature. I've particularly been drawn to the works of queer theorists such as Lee Edelman (author of No Future), Jos� Esteban Mu�oz (author of Cruising Utopia), and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (author of Epistemology of the Closet)-especially in terms of their views on concepts such as non-normativity, the body, and "futurity." These theorists have been essential in helping me determine the ways that novels challenge or reinforce the status quo. I would highly recommend Judith Halberstam's The Queer Art of Failure, in which she closely analyzes Pixar animation films in order to understand how they approach failure in unique ways. In this book, she ultimately reconfigures failure as a positive process, because it allows people to envision alternative (non-normative) ways of living and existing in the world. It would be interesting, I think, for scholars to closely examine the role of failure in young adult literature, and to scrutinize the possibilities that failure offers to characters within texts targeted towards a young adult audience.

What is your current research project?

As of now, I am trying to develop an analytical model in which I study young adult literature alongside other cultural productions such as other literary forms, film, and theater. Using this model, I am going to determine the ways in which affect (the experience of feeling and emotion) is channeled through literature and media in order to challenge preconceptions regarding gender, sexuality, and kinship. I am also presenting my research on the covers of queer young adult novels at the upcoming Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference, on April 18th in Chicago.

What is your educational background and experience? What's your current position?

I have had many experiences that have led me to where I am today. I taught elementary and middle school students for eleven years mostly in a reading lab. While working alongside middle schoolers, I finished my Ph.D. in Language and Literacy Education at the University of Georgia. While at UGA, I worked extensively with the Red Clay Writing Project, part of the National Writing Project. Currently, I teach courses in Teaching Reading with secondary students, YA Lit, and a seminar for the Learning, Diversity and Urban Studies program at Vanderbilt University. Additionally, I work closely with the local public schools in literacy coaching and facilitating professional development workshops.

How do you use YA literature in your classroom?

Each fall I teach a course called Teaching Reading with Diverse and Speical Needs Learners to full time middle school teachers who are part time masters students. In this course, we use YA books such as Draper's Out of My Mind, Haddon's Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, de la Pena's Mexican Whiteboy, and/or Budhos's Ask Me No Questions. This course is designed to address the lack of attention given to diverse and special needs learners in an urban middle school. To that end, the course aims to give students the opportunities to investigate the theories, practices, and pedagogies, issues, perspectives, and complexities of literacy acquisition from the point of view of mainstream teachers teaching in diverse, urban classrooms. We use YA literature so that we can share characters/students. The teachers in the course all have their own students and use them as examples to help us learn, but it is sometimes nice to adopt these characters as students whom we might teach so that we all know have the necessary info to plan accordingly.

How do you see technology changing the way we read and understand texts? 

Technology does change the way we read and understand texts in that technology makes text more accessible. Nooks, kindles, iPads, even netbooks in classrooms take up less space and allow for many books to be accessed by a reader. Additionally technology is changing the way we interact with texts. For example, the company Immersedition is changing digital books in such ways that makes reading a non-linear, information embedded, multi-sensory experience.

Best or most memorable YA book you've read lately? 

This is a tough question! I love so many books. If I have to pick one, I'd have to say Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys is the book that I am constantly recommending to colleagues, students, and friends. This novel rips your heart out for the Lithuanian people during WWII, but also offers such hope and renewal.

How did you first hear about ALAN?

I honestly don't remember how I heard about ALAN. I think that my first encounters with ALAN where when a teacher, who taught down the hall from me, Melinda Lundberg-Wallace, showed me her review cards from the "clip and file" section of the TAR journal. She and Angie Fondriest-Pendley taught me quite a bit about ARCs and how to stay up to date with all the latest books. Both of these teachers are longtime book advocates and helped feed my love of YA lit.

What's been your most memorable ALAN moment?

My second trip to ALAN was probably my most memorable moment. I was able to go with first time attendees and help show them the ropes. This was exciting for me as I was able to walk alongside novice teachers as they met YA authors, met leaders in the field, and met other teachers as excited about books as they are. As a teacher, that was a proud moment for me: helping build connections and relationships across the country for these young teachers.