"Author tranforms 'youth' genre" <em>Telegram</em>
This profile of Robert Cormier describes how his unflinching look at culture is drawing in new young adult readers. The article also addresses the controversy surrounding his books, especially <em>The Chocolate War</em>. Much of the profile discusses Cormier's place in literary history and what role the label of "YA author" might have in how future generations consider his work.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=%3Cem%3ETelegram+%26amp%3B+Gazette%3C%2Fem%3E+Staff"><em>Telegram & Gazette</em> Staff</a>
<em>Telegram & Gazette</em>
Robert E. Cormier Collection at Fitchburg State University's Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library
9 March 1997
AnnaMary L. Consalvo
Katharine Covino
Elise Takehana
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English
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Xeroxed+newspaper+article">Xeroxed newspaper article</a>
"Readers Responding Creative Writing and YA Literature" <em>English Journal</em>
This article explores ways in which creative writers can craft better, more engaging Young Adult fiction. The author proposes the use of the YA short story collection <em>Sixteen: Short Stories by Outstanding Writers for Young Adults</em>, edited by Donald Gallo, featuring Cormier's "In the Heat", as the ideal teaching tool for YA creative writing, since it presents a broad, high-quality survey of the genre. The author calls Cormier's piece "the most sophisticated of the stories." Nilsen also draws attention to Cormier's use of metaphors for both somber and playful effects.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Alleen+Pace+Nilsen">Alleen Pace Nilsen</a>
<em>English Journal</em>
Robert E. Cormier Collection at Fitchburg State University's Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library
March 1997
Annamary L. Consalvo
Katharine Covino
Elise Takehana
<a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/149" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">"In the Heat" in Sixteen Short Stories by Outstanding Writers for Young Adults</a>
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English
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Journal+article">Journal article</a>
"Sex, Serial Killers, And Suicide" <em>Brill's Content</em>
Kimberly Conniff's article situates Cormier's novel <em>Tenderness</em> in the changing landscape of teen fiction. She uses the adjectives "gritty, immediate, and brazenly hardcore" to describe Melvin Burgess's <em>Smack</em>, but they could just as easily pertain to Cormier's work. Conniff also points to works like <em>Tenderness</em> exceeding publishers' sales expectations. She calls the move towards the hardcore subject matter a ploy to bring in older teens to the young adult market and marks the prevalence of YA specific imprints at large publishing houses, YA reading lists on bookstore websites, and YA specific book prizes. Conniff makes a passing mention of the Columbine shooting as a point to reference to remind readers of how teenagers do face real problems that literature written for and about them should reflect if we are to be honest about our reality.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Kimberly+Connie">Kimberly Connie</a>
<em>Brill's Content</em>
Robert E. Cormier Collection at Fitchburg State University's Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library
September 1999
AnnaMary L. Consalvo
Katharine Covino
Elise Takehana
JPG, 8.5x11
English
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Magazine+article">Magazine article</a>
"The Sand in the Oyster So What Really Happened?" <em>Horn Book Magazine</em>
This article explores the increased presence of ambivalence and ambiguity in young adult novels. While the article discusses Cormier's work heavily, Patty Campbell also references YA authors Walter Dean Myers, Lois Lowry, Terry Trueman, and David Almond. The author considers how rising use of ambiguity could come from the unreliable narrative voice of an adolescent. While the author praises the complex ambiguities inherent in the ending of <em>The Chocolate War</em>, she criticizes the novel's follow-up for lacking that ambiguity itself and undermining the ambiguity of <em>The Chocolate War</em>. Campbell also asks readers to consider if increasing the ambiguity in fiction makes the fiction more realistic and if such a goal is even desirable.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Patty+Campbell">Patty Campbell</a>
<em>Horn Book Magazine, </em>2005, Vol. 81, No. 4, pp. 503-207.
Robert E. Cormier Collection at Fitchburg State University's Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library
July/August 2005
Annamary L. Consalvo
Katharine Covino
Elise Takehana
JPG, 8.5x11
English
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Magazine+article">Magazine article</a>
Paul Swaddle's email to Robert Cormier 3 February 1999
This e-mail presents a series of interview questions to Cormier from the Waterstones "In Brief" team out of Newcastle. Questions cover several topics including Cormier's journalism experience, Frenchtown, adolescence, large institutions, controversy, childhood, irony, emotions, and horror.
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Robert E. Cormier Collection at Fitchburg State University's Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library
3 February 1999
AnnaMary L. Consalvo
Katharine Covino
Elise Takehana
<a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/98" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Robert Cormier's email to Paul Swaddle 12 February 1999</a><br /><a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/97" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Paul Swaddle's email to Robert Cormier 11 February 1999</a><br /><a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/96" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Robert Cormier's email to Fiona, Gudrun, Lucy, and Paul 4 February 1999</a><br /><a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/39">Robert Cormier's email to Fiona, Gudrun, Lucy, and Paul 3 February 1999</a>
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English
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Email">Email</a>
Robert Cormier's letter to Craig 28 February 1996
In this four-page letter to his editor, Craig Virden, Robert Cormier defends his decision to label <em>Tenderness</em> a YA novel even though it features some departures from the genre, including an older protagonist and a morally ambiguous main character in Lori. He also discusses the removal of non-essential scenes, the development of the novel's central characters, racial and detective novel stereotypes, and politically correct language.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Robert+Cormier">Robert Cormier</a>
Robert E. Cormier Collection at Fitchburg State University's Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library
28 February 1996
Annamary L. Consalvo
Katharine Covino
Elise Takehana
<a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/18" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Karen Wojtyla's letter to Robert Cormier 12 March 1996</a>
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English
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Letter">Letter</a>
Robert Cormier's email to Fiona, Gudrun, Lucy, and Paul 4 February 1999
In this response to the interview questions from the "In Brief" team, Cormier discusses his love of words, the politically conservative climate, the horror of the commonplace, and his admiration of other writers, especially Graham Greene. The topics of adolescence, Frenchtown, journalism, and young adult literature also feature prominently.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Robert+Cormier">Robert Cormier</a>
Robert E. Cormier Collection at Fitchburg State University's Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library
4 February 1999
AnnaMary L. Consalvo
Katharine Covino
Elise Takehana
<a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/98" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Robert Cormier's email to Paul Swaddle 12 February 1999</a><br /><a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/97" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Paul Swaddle's email to Robert Cormier 11 February 1999</a><br /><a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/95" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Paul Swaddle's email to Robert Cormier 3 February 1999</a><br /><a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/39">Robert Cormier's email to Fiona, Gudrun, Lucy, and Paul 3 February 1999</a>
JPG, 8.5x11
English
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Email">Email</a>
"That Tender Touch" book review of <em>Tenderness</em>
This review addresses the novel <em>Tenderness</em> as a book for older, young adult readers. Much of the piece focuses on Cormier's portrayals of Eric and Lori. The author contends that the two teens, though different in many ways, share a twisted search for tenderness. Zvirin does note that the novel is not as textured as thrillers in the adult market, but has enough "psychological underpinnings" for teen readers. Also, she comments on the increased sexual content, even if artfully implied rather than explicit, than is typical for Cormier.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Stephanie+Zvirin">Stephanie Zvirin</a>
<em>Booklist</em>
Robert E. Cormier Collection at Fitchburg State University's Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library
1 February 1997
AnnaMary L. Consalvo
Katharine Covino
Elise Takehana
JPG, 8.5x11
English
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Book+review">Book review</a>