‘A scant but quite ponderable germ‘

This chapter demonstrates that James's The Awkward Age may be placed within a much longer tradition of writing about adolescence and girlhood, a tradition that also comprises an intriguing prehistory to the famous theories of adolescence advanced by Hall and Freud at the beginning of the twentieth century. It suggests that the interval between girlhood and womanhood had to be bridged in order to explain the process of physical and psychological change that girls undergo during their teens. It demonstrates how a girl's growth, especially during her awkward age, might be affected by the people...

This chapter demonstrates that James's The Awkward Age may be placed within a much longer tradition of writing about adolescence and girlhood, a tradition that also comprises an intriguing prehistory to the famous theories of adolescence advanced by Hall and Freud at the beginning of the twentieth century. It suggests that the interval between girlhood and womanhood had to be bridged in order to explain the process of physical and psychological change that girls undergo during their teens. It demonstrates how a girl's growth, especially during her awkward age, might be affected by the people surrounding her.