Jane Austen and Regency enthusiasts might recognize Beau Nash's rules of conduct for one's time in Bath, which among other things declared:
. . . that the elder ladies and children [must] be content with a second bench at a ball, as being past or not [yet] come to perfection.
When I came across this quote, it struck me as being true in books nowadays. It is rare that I come across a protagonist older than thirty, but then again, I read a lot of historical. If you were lucky, you were married by sixteen.
So, is this just my preferred genre, or are the majority protagonists young?
Friday, July 10, 2009
The Young Protagonist
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Yes, I contributed to the 16-19 surplus. But I write YA. So it's legit.
ReplyDelete:)
Thanks for an interesting poll. My protagonists, in two novels, are 25-34, in the first novel, mid 50's in the second, probably a clue to my own advancing years.
ReplyDeleteI've been looking at the ages that, thus far, at 0 percent, trying to think of successful books the protagonist is that age. Here's what I've come up with:
ReplyDelete0-10: To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout age 6
60-69, Agatha Christie's Miss Marple.
Can't think of any well-known protagonist in their 70's and 80's, but surely there must be a few out there.