Robert Cormier Daring to Disturb the Universe

Chapter One A Disturbing Master and Mentor Robert Cormier was, and remains, the consummate master of young adult literary fiction. He was the first to show the literary world that YA novels could be not only realistic about adolescent concerns but also unflinchingly honest about the big questions like the abuse of power, the roles of courage and forgiveness and redemption, and the struggle to stay human in the face of evil. While the daring of his subjects has often drawn censorship attack, the brilliance of his writing earned him many literary prizes and places on honor lists. He was the recipient of the American Library Association's Margaret A. Edwards Award and the ALAN Award of the National Council of Teachers of English, both given for lifetime achievement in young adult literature, as well as many other honors, both national and international. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages, among them French, German, Italian, Swedish, Chinese, and Japanese, and three of his novels were made into motion pictures. The publication in 1974 of Cormier's first YA novel, The Chocolate War, initiated a new level of literary excellence in the fledgling genre of young adult fiction and also unleashed a storm of controversy about the darkness and hard truth-saying of his work that continues to this day. The stunned critical reception of The Chocolate War led to the realization that fiction for teens could be great literature, and eventually made possible the recognition of the young adult novel by the literary establishment with such honors as the National Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, as well as the American Library Association's Michael L. Printz Award. Consequently the door was opened for many other young adult writers to find their own way to honesty and excellence. Noted critic and author Michael Cart says, "As a writer of young adult novels, Robert Cormier is without peer. He is, simply, the single most important writer in a field that is made distinguished by his contributions to it."1 Throughout the twenty-six years of his time as a young adult author Cormier continued to raise the stakes as to what could be said in a book for teens and how it could be said. He repeatedly surprised his readers with the originality of each new novel, while maintaining a continuity of recognizable style and themes that came to be called "Cormieresque"--short, cinematic scenes, taut dialogue, a deceptively straightforward story undergirded by intricate structure and layers of tricky allusion and metaphor, an intense focus on the emotion of the situation, doubling and parallels, an ironic interactivity with the reader that has only recently been recognized as postmodern, and a dark awareness of evil as an implacable obstacle in human affairs. But the crucial point about his importance in the development of young adult literature is that by being faithful to his vision, he freed other writers to follow their own. His work has inspired and given courage to many of the other greats in the field. Contemporary YA writers have been quick to pay him tribute for that example: Chris Crutcher offers heartfelt homage: "It's as simple as this . . . had there been no Bob Cormier . . . there certainly would be no Chris Crutcher."2 Chris Lynch, author of many powerful YA novels such as Iceman and Freewill, has credited Cormier with providing an epiphany in his own work: "I Am the Cheese was without question the most important YA title in my development as a writer. It was the book that made me say, 'Hot damn, you can do that? You can write a story that raw and real without translating it for the reader?' I cannot tell you how liberating that was for me."3 Gail Giles, whose Shattering Glass critics have related to The Chocolate War, says simply, "He's the master. That's all there is."4 Virginia Euwer Wolff, aCampbell, Patty is the author of 'Robert Cormier Daring to Disturb the Universe', published 2006 under ISBN 9780385730464 and ISBN 0385730462.