The Reality Fiction Opposition In Children S Literature

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2010 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1, University of Graz, language: English, abstract: Since the 1970s, scholarly interest in children's literature has grown, and numerous studies looking into the complexity and thematic and structural depth of the texts have been published. Simultaneously, the notion of metareferentiality has sparked interest among scholars from various disciplines. Metareferentiality, though not unique to the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries, is said to be one of the key cultural phenomena of our time. And yet, these two fields of interest, namely children's literature and metareferentiality, have only very rarely been studied in the same context. Metareferential elements in children's books are often seen as phenomena of dream worlds. Thus, they allow a traditional, non-critical reading in which the metareferential elements do not necessarily trigger medial awareness in the readers but can be explained logically and within the framework of the represented story worlds. Consequently, the epistemological status of reality would not be threatened by these texts. However, as this paper aims to prove, such a reading (for instance) of the Alice-stories, Die Unendliche Geschichte and The Book of Lost Things, although undeniably possible, falls short of the true scope of the texts. As will be shown, all four books address the question of the status of fiction with reference to its opposition to reality, albeit in different ways. In their treatment of the subject, they are clearly metafictional texts with epistemological and ontological concerns that require experienced readers to fully grasp their messages. Nevertheless, they are still publicly perceived as children's literature and are enjoyed by children and adults alike. After some general remarks on the genre of children's literature and on metareferentiality, this paper focuses on a particular form of metarefere

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2010 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1, University of Graz, language: English, abstract: Since the 1970s, scholarly interest in children’s literature has grown, and numerous studies looking into the complexity and thematic and structural depth of the texts have been published. Simultaneously, the notion of metareferentiality has sparked interest among scholars from various disciplines. Metareferentiality, though not unique to the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries, is said to be one of the key cultural phenomena of our time. And yet, these two fields of interest, namely children’s literature and metareferentiality, have only very rarely been studied in the same context. Metareferential elements in children’s books are often seen as phenomena of dream worlds. Thus, they allow a traditional, non-critical reading in which the metareferential elements do not necessarily trigger medial awareness in the readers but can be explained logically and within the framework of the represented story worlds. Consequently, the epistemological status of reality would not be threatened by these texts. However, as this paper aims to prove, such a reading (for instance) of the Alice-stories, Die Unendliche Geschichte and The Book of Lost Things, although undeniably possible, falls short of the true scope of the texts. As will be shown, all four books address the question of the status of fiction with reference to its opposition to reality, albeit in different ways. In their treatment of the subject, they are clearly metafictional texts with epistemological and ontological concerns that require experienced readers to fully grasp their messages. Nevertheless, they are still publicly perceived as children’s literature and are enjoyed by children and adults alike. After some general remarks on the genre of children’s literature and on metareferentiality, this paper focuses on a particular form of metareferentiality, namely the representation and treatment of the reality—fiction opposition in the selected works, highlighting similarities and differences and describing their means and tools. This is succeeded by an analysis and comparison of these novels in several aspects of the reality—fiction opposition, i.e.: the structural depiction and framing of these two realms; how transgressions of the borders take place and which problems arise from this; how language comes into play to highlight or blur the reality—fiction opposition; and how this is connected to truth and lies, and ‘true’ identity and ‘false’ illusion, respectively.

The International Companion Encyclopedia answers these questions and provides comprehensive coverage of children's literature from a wide range of perspectives. Over 80 substantial essays by world experts include Iona Opie on the oral tradition, Gillian Avery on family stories and Michael Rosen on audio, TV and other media. The Companion covers a broad range of topics, from the fairy tale to critical theory, from the classics to comics. Structure The Companion is divided into five sections: 1) Theory and Critical Approaches 2) Types and Genres 3) The Context of Children's Literature 4) Applications of Children's Literature 5) The World of Children's Literature Each essay is followed by references and suggestions for further reading. The volume is fully indexed.

This book provides an introduction to some of the critical theories useful in the study of children's literature. The 14 chapters examine the context, application and relevance to this area of concepts such as feminism, ideology, psychoanalysis and literacy studies.

Children's literature is an excellent way to educate children, on everything from social behavior and beliefs to attitudes toward education itself. A major aspect of children's literature is the importance of books and reading. Books represent adult authority. This book examines the role that books, reading and writing play in children's fantasy fiction, from books that act as artifacts of power (The Abhorsen Trilogy, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Harry Potter) to interactive books (The Neverending Story, Malice, Inkheart) to books with character-writers (Percy Jackson, Captain Underpants). The author finds that although books and reading often play a prominent role in fantasy for children, the majority of young protagonists gain self-sufficiency not by reading but specifically by moving beyond books and reading.

Technology and Identity in Young Adult Fiction is not a historical study or a survey of narrative plots, but takes a more conceptual approach that engages with the central ideas of posthumanism: the fragmented nature of posthuman identity, the concept of agency as distributed and collective and the role of embodiment in understandings of selfhood.

Exploring the ethical questions posed by, in, and about children’s literature, this collection examines the way texts intended for children raise questions of value, depict the moral development of their characters, and call into attention shared moral presuppositions. The essays in Part I look at various past attempts at conveying moral messages to children and interrogate their underlying assumptions. What visions of childhood were conveyed by explicit attempts to cultivate specific virtues in children? What unstated cultural assumptions were expressed by growing resistance to didacticism? How should we prepare children to respond to racism in their books and in their society? Part II takes up the ethical orientations of various classic and contemporary texts, including 'prosaic ethics' in the Hundred Acre Wood, moral discernment in Narnia, ethical recognition in the distant worlds traversed by L’Engle, and virtuous transgression in recent Anglo-American children’s literature and in the emerging children’s literature of 1960s Taiwan. Part III’s essays engage in ethical criticism of arguably problematic messages about our relationship to nonhuman animals, about war, and about prejudice. The final section considers how we respond to children’s literature with ethically focused essays exploring a range of ways in which child readers and adult authorities react to children’s literature. Even as children’s literature has evolved in opposition to its origins in didactic Sunday school tracts and moralizing fables, authors, parents, librarians, and scholars remain sensitive to the values conveyed to children through the texts they choose to share with them.

The first book to assess critically mystery in children's literature, this collection charts a development from religious mystery through rationally solved detective fictions to insoluble supernatural and horror mysteries. Written by internationally recognised scholars in the field, these thirteen original essays offer challenging and innovative readings of both classic and popular mysteries for children. This volume will be essential and stimulating reading for anyone with an interest in children's literature or in mystery fiction.