Microsoft Word final-current Developments at the Intersection of British Children-online-version doc

1.4.1.3
“Adults” 
As we have seen, exact and irrefutable definitions of the terms “child” and “young 
adult” evade increasingly a reliable categorisation. The permeability of the borders either 
questions the values of the adults or, at least, postpones them to an even later age. We can 
therefore define the term “adult” ex negativo: As that which is neither “child” nor “young 
adult”. This leaves us with one of the least contested social assumption about adults, their 
alleged completeness. It is usually agreed that an adult has reached psychological, emotional 
and physical maturity and stability. Independence, personal responsibility, liability, rights and 
duties are some of the main characteristics an adult ought to have. Nevertheless, just as the 
terms for “child”, “teenager” and “young adult” become more and more difficult to pinpoint, 
the term “adult” is by no means an invariable construct. The blurring of borders and concepts 
does not stop at “adult” either. Conspicuous is the dissolving of borders in two directions. 
Firstly, the prolongation of the period of childhood in Western Europe puts adulthood in a 
further distance from childhood as it used to be.
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Secondly, there seems to exist a 
countermovement. Perhaps driven by nostalgic reminiscence of childhood some adults try to 
return to it by copying young people’s demeanour and lifestyle. This phenomenon is also 
referred to as the so-called infantilisation of society. Is it opposed by an analogous 
adultisation
of children? Are they peripheral phenomena or a serious development to be 
reckoned with? Would it be an exaggeration to ask whether the traditional concepts of 
childhood and adulthood are still desirable? Or do recent developments necessitate a re-
evaluation of the matter? 
Furthermore, the widespread belief is that mature adults are the intended readers of 
“serious” or “non-children’s literature”. In their assumed quality as educated, cultured and 
well-informed recipients, adults find the entire spectrum of literary output at their disposal. 
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Ibd., p. 367. 
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There is no universally applicable or fixed age limit for the entry into adulthood. Depending on the respective 
personal development, the margin for the transitional phase can move between the guide numbers of 18/20 and 
30 years of age.

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Today, literature for adults does no longer know any taboos. Any subject can be dealt with, no 
matter whether it breaches good taste, ethical standards, faith, values or other conventions. 
This development towards a permissive society is paralleled in literature for children, where 
the lifting of former taboos makes its arrival via young adult literature. Slowly topics such as 
sexual abuse are filtering through, putting the possible spectrum of children’s literature on a 
par with that for adults. Could the textual und formal rapprochement be a reason for the 
heightened interest many adults take in children’s literature, especially fantasy, these days?