Writing in another’s voice: Frederick Kohner, Gidget and the father-daughter dynamic

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Embargoed until: 2022-07-14
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Accepted Manuscript (AM)
Author(s)
Krauth, Nigel
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2021
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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 ...
View more >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.
View less >
View more >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.
View less >
Journal Title
New Writing
Copyright Statement
This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in New Writing, 14 Jan 2021, copyright Taylor & Francis, available online at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14790726.2020.1857782
Note
This publication has been entered as an advanced online version in Griffith Research Online.
Subject
Curriculum and Pedagogy
Performing Arts and Creative Writing
Literary Studies