D&D General Is Appendix N Still Relevant to D&D?

[Umbran]

Right, but I don' think there is any indication it was written for kids at the time.

Well...

When he wrote it, Burroughs still had asperations of being a businessman - he published it because he was having issues supporting his wife and two kids. The work was first published under a pen name (Normal Bean, which the publisher "corrected" to Norman Bean), because Burroughs himself thought it was kind of childish and would reflect poorly on him with business folks if they knew he wrote it.

Burroughs wrote it, but he didn't start with a high opinion of the genre - it was a way to make a few bucks.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

The work was first published under a pen name (Normal Bean, which the publisher "corrected" to Norman Bean)

 

[Umbran]

Yeah.
Burroughs wanted "Normal Bean" to indicate that, as goofy as the story was, he was still just a normal guy, as right in the head as anyone else.
So, basically saying exactly the opposite of what that video showed.

 

[Reynard]

Well...

When he wrote it, Burroughs still had asperations of being a businessman - he published it because he was having issues supporting his wife and two kids. The work was first published under a pen name (Normal Bean, which the publisher "corrected" to Norman Bean), because Burroughs himself thought it was kind of childish and would reflect poorly on him with business folks if they knew he wrote it.

Burroughs wrote it, but he didn't start with a high opinion of the genre - it was a way to make a few bucks.

Sure, but that doesn't make it YA in the way that Lewis's work is, or Earthsea with an explicitly young protagonist (not that a young protagonist automatically makes something YA).

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

Sure, but that doesn't make it YA in the way that Lewis's work is, or Earthsea with an explicitly young protagonist (not that a young protagonist automatically makes something YA).

What makes it YA is the target demographic. I think Burroughs has always been written for and primarily enjoyed by boys who could literally be described as "sophomoric." Most pulp literature is YA, unless it was trying to be particularly transgressive or, more rarely, elevated.

 

[Reynard]

What makes it YA is the target demographic. I think Burroughs has always been written for and primarily enjoyed by boys who could literally be described as "sophomoric." Most pulp literature is YA, unless it was trying to be particularly transgressive or, more rarely, elevated.

Nothing I have read about the history of the pulps suggests they are YA -- even if the publishers were aiming at teenage boys. There WAS boys adventure stories at the time, directed explicitly at youth, but most of what we call "pulp" was not that.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

Nothing I have read about the history of the pulps suggests they are YA -- even if the publishers were aiming at teenage boys. There WAS boys adventure stories at the time, directed explicitly at youth, but most of what we call "pulp" was not that.

Literally the only difference between boys adventure and pulp is how often they refer to blood and whether or not women are explicitly or just tacitly objectified. It's the same ethos appealing to the same person.

 

[Professor Murder]

So for me the answer is... kinda?
The issue is the list is 50+ yrs old now, with sources listed older still, many of which are decidedly obscure.
There is also the truth of that some of those sources are frankly not appropriate if used uncritically in regards their outlook or values in a contemporary TTRPG hobby scene. Too many Appendix N enthusiasts are frankly apologists for regressive views that older works are expectantly going to contain.

 

[Umbran]

Sure, but that doesn't make it YA in the way that Lewis's work is, or Earthsea with an explicitly young protagonist (not that a young protagonist automatically makes something YA).

The first use of the term "young adult fiction" dates to 1942, and I don't think it became common until the 1960s.

The Chronicles of Narnia were first published 1950 to 1956.
Wizard of Earthsea was 1968.

Princess of Mars was first published in 1912.

Typically, works that lead a genre are not going to be the most archetypical of that genre. The fullness of the genre develops over time, so the most emblematic will come along when the genre is well-established, not at its origin.

While there is no agreed-upon definition, the most basic meaning of , "young adult" is really "stuff teenagers are gonna want to read and might choose for themselves". How is/was Princess of Mars not in that category?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I wouldn’t call Narnia YA, they are very much aimed at children. I was 7-9 when I read them (the first was read to us a primary school).