The Truth Can Deceive as well as a Lie: Young Adult Fantasy Novels as Political Allegory and Pedagogy

Abstract

In this chapter, I consider Marie Rutkoski’s The Winner’s Curse trilogy (The winner’s curse. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2014; The winner’s crime. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2015; The winner’s kiss. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2016) and Tomi Adeyemi’s #blacklivesmatter movement inspired Children of Blood and Bone (Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2018) as exemplars of young adult (YA) fantasy fiction works which utilize political allegory in their narratives to understand how they may impact readers’ social engagement. Besides being lauded as empathy-building texts by educators and library organizations, publishing trends and social media activity indicate that these novels are widely read and enjoyed. But how much do they actually impact readers’ understanding of the real-world happenings they allegorize and how far do they go to encourage acting upon said understanding? How are these novels conceptualized and received as cultural artifacts and can they actually work as forms of resistance against societal injustices? Via excerpts and authors’ notes, I utilize affect theory (Massumi B, Parables for the virtual: Movement, affect, sensation. Duke University Press, Durham, 2002) to understand the emotive and consumer popularity (Nielsen Company, U.S. book industry year-end review. Retrieved from: http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2016/2015-us-book-industry-year-end-review.html, 2015) of these novels and take up Keen’s (Empathy and the novel. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2007) theorizing on the empathy-altruism hypothesis to problematize their effect. While my findings suggest that YA fantasy novels may not be equipped to undertake the critical work of a resistance project in themselves, this chapter is ultimately a call for slower, more deliberate readings that may inspire readers to do the work of social activism long after the last pages are turned.