Bullies, the Bullied and Bullying Narratives in Contemporary Fiction

Abstract

Media reports have increasingly focused on incidents of bullying and their effects on children, particularly in relation to cyber-bullying and children’s use of social media. Unsurprisingly, narratives of bullying feature prominently in recent fiction for the young. This chapter considers a selection of contemporary texts that incorporate narratives of bullying, drawing on Foucault’s theories of knowledge and power, and his genealogical approach to knowledge. We focus on three aspects of bullying narratives: their treatment of the origins and causes of bullying; their representations of the power dynamics involved; and the extent to which narrative outcomes address subject formation and the possibility of change. These texts, and many similar to them, position young readers to understand bullies, the bullied, and the contexts in which bullying occurs.