This document summarizes 5 novels that deal with themes of adolescence: 1. Mircea Eliade's "Novel of the Nearsighted Adolescent" which follows a bookish teenage protagonist struggling with his ideals against real life. 2. George Calinescu's "Otilia's Secret" where the young protagonist Felix becomes obsessed with the feminine and flowering Otilia. 3. J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" tells the story of expelled teen Holden who spends a few days in New York experiencing stories that demoralize him. 4. Mircea Cartarescu's "Travesti" recalls