eldritchhobbit

Oops! I apologize for not responding sooner. I don't think I ever received notice from LJ of your post. My apologies!

I, too, worry about the dumbing down of society in general. (I've been known to tell freshman students, without any exaggeration, that my Boston terrier has a larger vocabulary than they do.) But I'm not sure that I'd equate fiction with young adult protagonists with "dumber" fare. For example, I'd put Bernard Beckett's Genesis, the YA SF novel from last year, against any contemporary "adult" novel. (It posits a future isolated community built on the model of Plato's Republic.) In some cases, the exploration of a world and its issues makes more sense from the perspective of a young person growing into it than from the jaded or desensitized eyes of someone older and more accustomed to it.

There's certainly "if it bleeds it leads" fiction out there. I'm not sure if there's more in YA than elsewhere, to be honest. I just don't know. Sturgeon's Law applies, of course, but I figure it applies to all categories across the board.

For all I know, Catcher in the Rye is categorized as YA now!

Haha! I just saw this today. Check it out! *wink*