Int'l Research Society for Children's Literature
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IRSCL NEWSLETTER
No. 52 Autumn/Winter 2006
Letter from the President
This is my penultimate newsletter as I will have served 2 terms as President in August. This means it is time to think about the future of the IRSCL; specifically, who will serve on the next board, how we want the Society to function, and how we will organise and finance the work of the board. I have raised the issue of the next board already, and I am pleased to say several individuals have contacted me to say that they are now in a position to stand for the board. This is good news as in 2005 we were only just able to staff the board and because most senior scholars now have very heavy administrative workloads attached to their full-time positions, it has been difficult to accomplish all the work that needs to be done. We were grateful that Pam Knights and Katrien Vloeberghs agreed to be co-opted to help with the current work in hand. Even with their help, Mavis Reimer’s new Centre at the University of Winnipeg is having to support the work she has undertaken as Treasurer and Membership Secretary – a particularly time-consuming role.
In this newsletter you will find nomination forms for the next board. I hope that you will take the time to think about who could serve the Society well – not forgetting some of our recently retired members, who might have more time to devote to developing activities and publications than those of us who are still managing full institutional workloads. Getting a strong and active board is central to securing the future of the IRSCL; we may also need to look at our finances. At the AGM in Kyoto the President and Treasurer will present financial information and some possible plans to members, but in the meantime, if you have ideas for possible sources of funding, please do not hesitate to contact me or another board member. The money would be used to help keep membership fees low – this has always been a feature of the IRSCL as we are committed to being an inclusive organisation – and to supporting participation and research activity through such things as the travel and research grants we award. We have also added a box on membership renewal form for donations from members who want to support these aspects of the IRSCL’s work.
Another important feature of the IRSCL is the biennial Award for outstanding research. Please remember to nominate members’ publications – you can do this at any time in the two-year cycle of the board.
The new year will see the exciting conference being organised by Ulyana Hnidets in conjunction with the next board meeting in Lviv, Ukraine (see inside/website for details). I hope many members will participate. In Lviv we will be making final arrangements for the Kyoto conference (see last page/website) working to make this another memorable event for members.
Kimberley Reynolds
Contributions
If you have ideas for the newsletter or web site or would like to offer your services in developing either or both, please don’t hesitate to contact Kim Reynolds. All information for the next newsletter and website should be sent to Kim Reynolds, School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics, University of Newcastle, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 7RU UK
Email: Kim.Reynolds@ncl.ac.uk
IRSCL Fellow, Jean Perrot, writes about working with illustrator Dave McKean at the Charles Perrault International Institute Summer
University
Dave Mckean was the guest of our 2006 Summer University and for two days we
enjoyed engaging with his work and sharing his aesthetic vision as expressed in his picturebooks and films. I am sure many colleagues are familiar with McKean’s best-selling collaborations with Neil Gaiman, including the picturebooks The Day I Swapped my Dad for two Goldfish (1997) and The Wolves in the Walls (2003). It was also a great treat to see the award-winning Gaiman and Mckean film Mirrormask (2005), and a second, much shorter film, which he made with his own daughter. The latter, which I found particularly interesting, features a young girl - a modern sister of Lewis Carroll’s Alice, and more obviously of Coraline (the heroine of the 2002 novel by Neil Gaiman with illustrations by Dave McKean). She wakes up at dawn one morning with a feeling of anguish, and approaches a mirror in the dusky light of her room. As she draws near the glistening surface, another girl (some fantastic double?) appears as the cupboard under it opens. We are deep in Dave McKean’s world, midway between real life and the land of phantasms. The enigmatic character gives the child a small bag of pebbles. Each one of these is meant to represent a sorrow, as the narrator explains, for the girl is not a quiet person and always worries about something. And so the film unfolds, showing how the child goes out into the open, sowing her small coloured pebbles. She moves from the house, through the garden, up to a wonderful carpet of bluebells in a clearing of the forest, and then higher and higher, experiencing a kind ecstasy, reaching out for the stars and mentally soaring (as the onlooker’s eyes follow the camera, swiftly gliding up) to the lighted dome of the firmament. Eventually she returns to ‘real’ life and picks up her blue pebbles, which lead her home and back to bed.
The child’s allegorical tribulation on the path to Heaven resolves the initial anguish: moral transformation has been achieved through the discovered beauties of nature. Here we can catch the typically postmodern baroque quality of a work which is close to children’s fantasy. Dave McKean inhabits a world set on the fringes of reality and of illusion, where the seething energy which he shares with Neil Gaiman is at the roots of a turbulent vision of life. A vision, it seems, which he inherited from his father, according to Echographies, another story, this time based on a kind of introspective
narrative animated by the surprising presence of a rainbow, the typical emblem of Baroque aesthetics (I analyzed the effects of this in Art baroque, art d’enfance (1991)).
Echograhies, like Cages, a huge volume of over 500 pages that meant several years of work, rings with echoes or traces of a reality which has the flavour of Henry James’s fantastic world. The relationship between James and McKean came to mind when I studied the illustrations McKean made for The Day I Swapped my Dad for two Goldfish, and recognised a glimpse of the Mermaid Inn in the curve of Mermaid Street in the Sussex town of Rye, close by the house where the author of What Maisie Knew lived and where McKean now makes his home.
Dave Mckean’s art draws on many aesthetic sources, though with a preference for what is disquieting, such as the work of the Spanish Surrealist, Bunuel’s Un chien andalou, one of McKean’s favourite movies, which, as he remarked, makes the stiff and the stilted avert their eyes from the screen, when an eye is slit. This image can be seen as representing the wound inflicted on the victims of a society; Bunuel was pointing towards the link between the misery of the people and the blindness of the prevailing political order.
Despite his admiration for Bunuel, McKean is not an anarchist. For Dave McKean, Englishness and the importance of family are deeply held aspects of his work. His son was an active partner in his father’s creation of masks, CD and DVD covers, posters, and other items of our cultural world. To my mind, McKean is leading the way for a contemporary version of humanism, defeating or complementing our new global cosmopolitism.
Those of us who attended this summer event had the opportunity to observe McKean at work, including on the lawn using his computer in the heat of these two inspiring days. We observed at close hand what it means to be deeply steeped in a creation.
Dave McKean was introduced by Virginie Douglas. Her presentation will be included in Des images pour la jeunesse (Paris: Éditions Thierry Magnier/Créteil: CRDP de l’Académie de Créteil, 2006) a volume of essays on the art of illustrating for children edited by Sophie van der Linden, the present Director of the Institute.
Routledge Children’s Literature and Culture Series
I asked Jack Zipes, General Editor if this influential series, to provide an overview of its history and development. Many members have books in the series and it is an important source of new research in the field.
If we commonly refer to the late Victorian period in Great Britain as the golden age of children’s literature, I think (without exaggeration) that in years to come, scholars will celebrate the period from 1970 to 2006 and beyond as the golden age of literary criticism about children’s literature, not only in the UK but in the world. I make this claim because, as editor of the Routledge Children’s Literature and Culture Book Series, I have witnessed a steady growth in the quality, innovation, and comprehension in scholarly approaches to children’s literature and culture.
The Routledge Series began in 1995 as the Garland series, a subsidiary of Routledge. In my prospectus to the editors at Garland and Routledge I wrote that the series would be dedicated to furthering original research in children’s literature and culture, and would include monographs on individual authors and illustrators, historical examinations of different periods, literary analyses of genres, and comparative studies on literature and the mass media. In addition, I intended to make the series international in scope and to promote research that made full use of interdisciplinary methods.
Over the past 11 years I have received and reviewed (with the assistance of an editorial board) numerous manuscripts from international scholars, and to date there are over 45 titles in the series. When I examine the list of books that have been published, I am pleased to report that there is a great mix of studies written by young scholars at the beginning of their careers - who have begun to make remarkable contributions to our field - and established critics, who continue to produce excellent work and to explore new approaches to children’s literature and culture. The topics of the books demonstrate a great range. For instance, there are studies of single authors such as Beatrix Potter, Russell Hoban, Carlo Collodi, and Diana Wynne Jones; collected essays on topics such as crossover literature, the heroic figure in children’s popular culture, utopian and dystopian writing, the influence of childhood reading on writers for adults, and the effects of gender dispositions. The series refelects different theoretical approaches to aesthetics, ideologies of identity, minority literatures, translation, cinema, memory, history, poetics, and the canon. Although the emphasis of many of the studies continues to focus on the Anglo-American tradition, the series has published works on children’s literature and culture in Africa, Finland, Germany, and Italy and is open to publishing studies outside the Anglo-American tradition. As I said, we have reached a golden age in children’s literature in the world, and it is through a sharing of our research on an international level that we shall all benefit and grow, and certainly the Routledge series reflects this growth.
Special offers to IRSCL members
The board is seeking ways to enhance what membership in the IRSCL offers. We are pleased to announce that in addition to the newsletter, website, directory, discussion list, archives, congress and other benefits of IRSCL membership, members may now subscribe to three major journals at a special rate.
Those who would like to subscribe to Canadian Children’s Literature (edited by Perry Nodelman) at the IRSCL rate can do so by going to
Those who want to receive the Australian journal Papers (edited by Clare Bradford) at the discounted rate should contact Clare Bradford at clarex@deakin.edu.au
There is also a special offer for The Lion and the Unicorn which you can access via the IRSCL web site (irscl.ac.uk).
New Members
Because of the change of Treasurer/Membership Secretary, we do not yet have full details of new members. This will be collated for the next newsletter. Do please remember to mention the Society to colleagues whose research interests reflect those of the society and who could benefit and contribute to the work of the IRSCL. Information about the Society and application forms can be found on the web site: irscl.ac.uk.
Members’ news and announcements
Please send all items for this section to Kim.Reynolds@ncl.ac.uk.
I am very pleased to announce the following:
Milena Blazic is part of a Slovenian team that is organising a conference to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of Astrid Lindgren – watch the website for details. She also provides details of an international lecture series which as so far featured members Lynne Vallone and Jack Zipes.
Morteza Khosronejad (Iran), who has recently been appointed to be the first Chairman of Shiraz University Centre for Children’s Literature Studies (SUCCLS).
Li Li (Lily) has successfully completed her doctoral thesis, Translated Children’s Literature in China 1898-1949 and is now an Assistant Professor at Macao University of Science and Technology.
Kerry Mallan (Australia) has been promoted to full professor – see also Grants and Awards received.
Astrid Surmatz has moved from Germany to The Netherlands where she takes up a position as Senior Lecturer (Universitair Docent) in the Scandinavian Depratment of the University of Amsterdam. Please correct her contact details in the Directory which should now read: Dr. Astrid Surmatz, Universiteir van Amsterdam, leerstoelgroep Scandinavische talen en culturen, Spuistr. 134, NL 1012 VB A-dam, The Netherlands e-mail: a.m.surmatz@uva.nl. See also members’ publications for information about her new book on Pippi Longstocking, which has been chosen as one of the top 5 publications of the Faculty of Humanities 2003-5.
Lynne Vallone has accepted a
position as Professor of Childhood Studies at Rutgers University, Camden
(USA) beginning Fall 2007. Rutgers University will inaugurate its new
Department of Childhood Studies in Fall 2007 and they are accepting
applications for MA and PhD students at this time ( studies.camden.rutgers.edu/)
Affiliated societies and organisations
We are happy to welcome appropriate societies who would like to become affiliated with the IRSCL. An application and description of eligibility can be found on the web site under the heading ‘Join the IRSCL’.
The Australasian Children's Literature Association for Research (known as
ACLAR)
No news was provided for this newsletter.
The Irish Society for the Study of Children’s Literature (ISSCL)
The Society has an attractive new website that you can visit at . See also Calls for Papers.
Institutional members
Institutional membership is an effective way to support the work of the IRSCL, to disseminate information about the Society’s activities and those of its members, and to alert members to relevant activities and resources at each others’ institutions. If your university/institution/region has a research centre, library collection or other organisation that reflects the work of the IRSCL, it would be helpful if you would introduce the idea of institutional membership. The annual fee for institutions is just $60 (US).
News from Institutional members
National Center for the Study of Children’s Literature, San Diego State University
(California, U.S.)
We invite colleagues to keep up-to-date on news and events at the NCSCL by consulting our website: www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~childlit/. There you will find our most recent Newsletter, as well as information on the many accomplishments of our postgraduate students.
Faculty member Carole Scott (along with the late Millicent Lenz) has recently published His Dark Materials Illuminated: Phillip Pullman’s Trilogy (Wayne State U. Press): wsupress.wayne.edu/childrens/lenzhdm/lenzb.html . Linda Salem has published Children’s Literature Studies: Cases and Discussions (Greenwood): showbook.cfm?isbn=9781591580898 . And Jerry Griswold’s Feeling Like a Kid: Childhood and Children’s Literature (Johns Hopkins U. Press) will appear in October 2006: press.jhu.edu/books/title_pages/9261.html .
Finally, the department is advertising a position. OPEN RANK Professor of English and Comparative Literature: Tenure-track specialist in Children's Literature, desirable secondary specialization in Folklore, with distinguished teaching experience and publications to teach undergraduate as well as graduate courses. Ph.D. in English or Comparative Literature in a relevant field preferred. The successful candidate should have demonstrated significant teaching excellence and the ability to work with a diverse student population and be willing to commit time to department and university service, especially working with graduate students. Relevant previous and substantial current publications demonstrating expertise and research interest in these areas are required. Send applications to include cover letter, CV, and dossier (letters of recommendation and official or unofficial transcripts) to Sherry Burgus Little, Chair, Department of English and Comparative Literature, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182-8140. Explain in cover letter how expertise in relevant areas is demonstrated by teaching experience and publications. Review of applications will begin October 16, 2006. Applications should be postmarked by Monday, November 7, 2005. We particularly seek candidates who mirror the diversity of the university and its surrounding urban community. SDSU is a Title IX, Equal Opportunity employer and does not discriminate against individuals on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, marital status, age disability or veteran status, including veterans of the Vietnam era.
Children’s Literature Unit, School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics, University of Newcastle, UK.
Andrew Motion, Britain’s Poet Laureate, will give the 2nd Fickling Lecture on 9 November at the University of Newcastle.
23 November 2006 sees the launch of the Miriam Hodgson Perspective Series – lectures in celebration of the life and work of the distinguished British children’s book editor, Miriam Hodgson, who died last year. Funded by Egmont and run in conjunction with Seven Stories (.uk), the series will focus on the making of children’s books including the role of the editor, the changing experience of authors, and the work of illustrators. A highlight will be an interview by Peter Hollindale with Geraldine McCaughrean on her sequel to Peter Pan titled Peter Pan in Scarlet (8 March, 2007).
A complete programme of speakers, list of other lectures and events can be found on the CLU web site:
We are also pleased to announce that former IRSCL Secretary, Rosemary Johnston, will be in residence in October/November.
Members’ publications
Congratulations to Elwyn Jenkins, whose new book, National Character in South African English Children’s Literature was published on 8 September. The book covers twentieth-century books and is a sequenl to Elwyn’s South Africa in English-language Children’s Literature. ISBN 978-041-597-676-3. Published by Routledge, price £65.00 (GBP).
I am pleased to be able to let you know that Maria Nikolajeva and Carole Scott’s How Picturebooks Work is now available in an affordale paperback edition and that Sandra Beckett and Maria Nikolajeva (eds) have recently published a new book titled Beyond Babar: The European Tradition in Children’s Literature (Scarecrow). The book consists of 12 chapters on key European texts including The Little Prince, Pippi Longstocking, the Moomin books, The Neverending Story and Sophie’s World.
Valerie Coghlan, co-editor of Bookbird, announces a special number of the journal to coincide with the 2006 IBBY congress in Macau, China. The volume includes papers by Chinese academics, publishers and children’s writers as well as some non-Chinese commentators on China’s developing literature for children. Copies may be purchased for the special price of 15 euros or $20 (US) including p&p from: University of Toronto Press – Journals Division, 5201 Dufferin Street, Toronto, Ontario, CANADA M3H 5T8. See where an order form is available. Full details on the IRSCL website.
Marek Oziewicz and Justyna Deszcz-Tryhubczak have recently published Towrads or Back to Human Values? Spiritual and Moral Dimensions of Contemporary Fantasy (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2006).
Astrid Surmatz’s Pippi Långstrump als Paradigma is available from Beiträge zur Nordischen Philologie Band 34 2005, XV, 618 Seiten Cost E78 ISNB 3-7720-3097. Full details and an order form are on the website.
Members’ teaching and supervisory expertise
Two directories containing information about the courses members offer and their examination expertise are being developed on the website. The idea is for these to provide a useful resource for members seeking appropriate examiners for theses and courses to recommend to students. Its value depends on the information provided by members, so please contact Kim Reynolds with your details if you would like them added to the directories.
IRSCL Travel Grant 2007
Applications are invited for up to three travel grants of not more than US
$ 1,000 each to be awarded to members in need of financial assistance to attend the 2007 Congress. Applications should be sent to the Board before March 1, 2007.
Contact person:
DR. MAVIS REIMER
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
UNIVERSITY OF WINNIPEG
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9
CANADA
E-mail: _m.reimer@uwinnipeg.ca_ (mailto:m.reimer@uwinnipeg.ca)
fax: +1 204 774 4134
Applicants should send a brief summary of their recent research activities, a budget (including estimated travel expenses, accomodation, meals and registration fees) that clearly states any other source of travel support. Applications will be confidential.
Notification about applications will be made by 10 May 2007.
IRSCL AWARD 2007
The 2007 IRSCL Award for outstanding research, to be presented at the 18th biennial congress at Kyoto, Japan, (August 24 - 29, 2007) will honour a distinguished work in the field of children’s literature research published in 2005 or 2006. The recipient must be an IRSCL member in good standing and must be nominated by another member. Board members are not eligible for nomination. Nominations for the 2007 Award should be sent to:
Dan Hade
260 Chambers Building
Penn State University
University Park, PA 16802
USA
Email: ddh2@psu.edu
Deadline: 1 March, 2007
The nomination should include your own name, the name of the author of the nominated book, and its bibliographical details (title, place, publisher, year, ISBN number), together with your reason for nominating it. Please do use this opportunity to consider whether you know of a recent book by an IRSCL member which might merit this prestigious award. We look forward to receiving your nominations.
IRSCL RESEARCH GRANT
The Research Grant of US $1,000 encourages research by young/new scholars of
children's literature; and applications are welcome from any postgraduate
students or young colleagues in the field. It is not necessary to be a member of
the IRSCL to apply for the grant. Eligible activities include literary,
historical, cultural, sociological, empirical or pedagogical research.
Applications should include a clear outline of aims, methodology, budget
allocation, and expected outcomes. Notifications about applications will be made by 10 May 2007. Fuller details of the application process are
available on the IRSCL website at .
Contact:
Dr. Pamela Knights
Department of English and American Literature
University of Durham
Hallgarth House
77 Hallgarth Street
Durham City DH1 3AY
UK
E-mail:pam.knights@durham.ac.uk
Fax: +44 191 374 7471
Fellowship
The Eileen Wallace Research Fellowship in Children's Literature, valued up
to $5,000 (CDN) per annum, invites proposals for research and scholarship
using the resources of the University of New Brunswick's Eileen Wallace
Children's Literature Collection. Proposals are welcomed from anyone who
can provide evidence of competence and scholarly background and outline a
practical and worthwhile project using the resources of the Collection.
Application forms are available from: Children's Literature Collection,
Harriet Irving Library, University of New Brunswick, PO Box 4400,
Fredericton, NB, E3B 5A3, Canada. Telephone (506) 452-6044 or on our
website: .
Deadline for application is March 1st of any year, with fellowship to be
awarded after July 1st of the same year.
Grants and awards received
This section is designed to share news and good practice relating to research projects and awards. Please contact Kim Reynolds or Clare Bradford if you have information for this section.
Australian Research Council Discovery Grant (2006-2008) ($190,000)
Congratulations to Professors Kerry Mallan, Queensland University of Technology and Parlo Singh, Griffith University, who have recently received a substantial award for their project: 'Growing up in networked spaces: Tech-savvy youth constructing identities and forming social relations in online and offline worlds'. The project will investigate the way technological and social changes are increasingly disrupting traditional networks for youth identity formation and social relations. This study's focus on online and offline worlds raises significant issues that relate directly to youth's participation in Australia's global knowledge-based economy - particularly youth's engagement with online technologies, and young people’s experiences as consumers and producers of cultural materials and practices.
Special feature: A comparison of doctoral experiences in members’ countries
Although globalisation means that in many ways and at a variety of levels our experiences and approaches to the subject are becoming more similar, there are still distinctive differences to how the academic systems operate in the many countries from which the IRSCL draws its members. One area where this is particularly true is in the experience of working towards and being assessed for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. With this in mind I have approached a selection of members, asking them to explain how the system works in their countries. This feature could be continued in the next newsletter if others would like to set out contrasting experiences and systems.
The idea for this feature was inspired by an account of his son’s recent doctoral defence sent to me by Anne de Vries. I reproduce parts of this below.
Defending a doctorate in the Netherlands
The Dutch system is symbolical-theatrical. Before one is allowed to ‘defend’ one's thesis, it has to be approved by a reading committee of six scholars (tutors not included). So, when defending, you already know the result... although the eloquence of the defender could make a difference about whether or not the candidate receives additional honours.
The defence starts with a parade coming into the university hall: first the registrar (beadle), then the professors and at the end the defender with his/her (symbolical) ‘helpers’. (40 years ago, the helpers sometimes helped the defender find a quotation, but even that's history now).
The defence begins with a 10 minute presentation for the general public (this was added about 20 years ago). Then each of the members of the reading committee asks a question, taking about 5 minutes, to which the defender responds for about 5 minutes. The whole procedure takes exactly 45 minutes. Then the registrar (beadle) comes in, knocks on the floor with her/his stick full of bells and shouts "Hora est" (Latin for: "Time's up!"). Then the whole parade goes out, the professors have a meeting to decide the result, the whole parade comes in again, and the formal promotion takes place.
Of course, this procedure favours those who are better with their mouth than with their pen or pencil! The dress is also unfamiliar to most since formal attire is required.
Obtaining a doctoral degree in Finland
Maria Lassén-Seger & M(ar)ia Österlund
Doctoral students at Finnish universities are required to complete a certain amount of coursework related to the subject of the thesis and write a doctoral thesis. During the process of writing the thesis students are expected continuously to present work-in-progress at seminars. Despite attempts to speed up the process of acquiring a doctorate, it usually takes longer than 5 years – especially within the Humanities – to complete doctoral studies.
The Finnish doctoral degree is different from those awarded in many English-speaking countries in two ways: the doctoral dissertation has to be published and is examined at a public defence. When the doctoral student and the supervisor agree that the thesis is ready for inspection, the student applied to the Faculty to appoint two external readers of the thesis. Suggestions for possible secondary readers are usually agreed upon by the doctoral student and the supervisor. When the expert readers have been appointed, the doctoral student submits a printed copy of the thesis. The experts will then have two months time to read the thesis and write their reports. The reports will evaluate everything from the contents to the structure of the thesis, and often include helpful suggestions on how to improve the thesis. The experts’ main task is, however, to judge whether or not the manuscript is ready for publication.
When the reports from the external readers come through, the doctoral student can choose to accept the comments or – if a student feels that her/his work has not been fairly judged – can make a case to the Faculty. Based on this information, the Faculty will then decide what possible changes may need to be done to the thesis and whether or not the doctoral student will be allowed to publish and defend the thesis. The student is, of course, free to find a publisher of his/her own for the thesis, but in Findland most students apply to have their work published at the local university press. At this stage the Faculty will appoint an opponent for the public defence (again, suggestions for the opponent are normally put forward and discussed by the supervisor and the doctoral student), and set a date for the defence. The opponent may be one of the original external experts or another expert in the field. The doctoral student then makes the final changes to the thesis and prepares it for publication. The final version of the thesis must be given to the opponent at least 30 days before the defence. The actual published book must be available to the public at least 10 days before the defence.
The defence is quite a solemn ceremony following a strict schedule with a dress code and detailed regulations for the order of events (including rules for when the opponent and the respondent are to stand up and be seated). It is open to the public. The event begins with a lectio praecursoria, which is a 20-minute-long lecture delivered by the respondent (the student). This lecture should of course tie in with the theme of the thesis, but it should also be written in a manner that addresses the general public. Then the opponent will give his/her formal summary of and general comments on the thesis. After this, the actual defence will begin; when the opponent poses comments and questions to the respondent who is expected to defend his/her work. The comments can concern anything from methodological issues to errata. When the questioning is over, the opponent takes the stand and sums up his/her judgement of the thesis and finally says whether he/she recommends to the Faculty or not that the respondent receive a doctoral degree. This means that, technically, the doctoral student can still at this stage fail, although such a catastrophic outcome is extremely unusual given the long examination process preceding the defence. After that, the respondent asks whether anyone in the audience wants to comment on the thesis (this sometimes happens, but is rather unusual too). The defence usually takes 3-4 hours, but cannot be longer than 5 hours.
The public defence is traditionally followed by a dinner party in the evening arranged by the respondent in honour of the opponent.
A grading committee appointed by the Faculty is present at the defence and will also judge the thesis and the respondent’s ability to defend his/her work. Finally, based on the final reports and the suggested grades from the opponent and the grading committee, the Faculty will decide on a grade for the thesis. If the respondent is unhappy with the opponent’s decision, he/she can defend their case to the Faculty and await a final verdict.
Clare Bradford has provided an account of the 8th Asia Childrne’s Literature Conference
Along with other past and current members of IRSCL (Winfred Kaminski, Jean Perrot, Klaus Doderer, Anne Scott MacLeod, Zohar Shavit and Riita Kuivasmäki), I attended the 8th Asia Children’s Literature Convention in Seoul, Korea, August 21-25. In addition to delegates from Europe, India, Israel and Australia, the Convention attracted well over 300 delegates from many parts of Asia: Korea, China, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Taiwan and Singapore. A striking feature of the Convention was its multilingual reach, exemplified by the provision of translation services into English, Japanese, Korean and Chinese. The work of IRSCL was mentioned several times during the Convention, and many delegates expressed interest in attending the 2007 Congress in Kyoto.
The theme of the Convention was ‘Children’s Literature Aiming at Peace’. Most sessions were plenary panels comprising papers by four or five scholars; in addition the programme included question-and-answer sessions, during which selected presenters of papers were invited to address questions arising from their papers. The fact that all delegates heard the same plenary papers was a unifying factor, although it also meant that relatively few delegates were able to present papers. The presence of many young scholars from across Asia augurs well for the future of children’s literature studies in the region. The 9th Asia Children’s Literature Convention will be held at National Taitung University, Taiwan, in 2008.
Forthcoming Conferences and Events including calls for papers
(Please send details of any events you are organising to Kim Reynolds and remember to provide new copy for conference announcements after a call for papers has expired. Full details of events are provided on the website.)
Conference announcement: Reading Centre @ CICE 2006-7
The Reading centre at the Churhc of Ireland College of Education is pleased to announce a series of lectures to take place over the coming academic year featuring Professor Peter Hunt (25 October); Professor Trinka Messenheimer (6 December), Korky Paul (31 January) and Dr. Mel Gibson (2 May). Full details can be found at readingcentre@cice.ie
Call for Papers: Scandinavian research on children’s literature
The Swedish Institute for Children’s Books publishes the journal Barnboken twice a year – the only Swedish scholarly journal on children’s literature. Each issue offers articles and papers on subjects of current interest as well as reviews of recent theoretical literature. Contributions are written by specialists in the field and reviewed by a panel of experts. Barnboken is usually puboished in Swedish with an English summary.
The editors are now planning for vol. 29, no, 1 (Spring 2007) concerning children’s literature and Scandinavian research in the field. We therefore welcome suggestions for articles as soon as possible. Deadline for submission is November 1, 2006.
Manuscripts should be original and not previously submitted for publication elsewhere. Articles may be written in Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and English. A short summary of 200-300 words in English should accompany the final version of the article. Artilces should not exceed 5,000 words. For more information see sbi.kb.se/barnboken
Please send manuscripts to lillemor.torstensson@sbi.kb.se
Lillemor Torstensson
Editor, Barnboken
The Swedish Institute for Children’s Books
Stockholm, Sweden
Call for Papers:Tove Jansson Essay Collection; Tove Jansson Conference
Proposals are invited for contributions to a Collection of Critical Essays on the Finnish author and artist Tove Jansson, under contract to be published by Cambridge Scholars Press, and for papers for a one-day Jansson Conference, to be held at Pembroke College, Oxford on 24 March 2007.
The recent translation of Jansson’s The Summer Book has renewed and expanded international interest in the writer popularly known for her acclaimed children’s books about the charming and philosophically-inclined Moomin characters. We welcome papers from all areas of research, including cross-disciplinary approaches, which deal with any aspect of Jansson’s wide-ranging authorship and art.
The deadline for both proposals is 1 October 2006 and those selected for the Collection or the Conference (or both) will be notified soon thereafter. Essays for the Collection should be 4,000-6,000 words long and final versions will be due on 31 December 2006. Conference papers should be no longer than 20 minutes. Essays may be presented in condensed form at the Conference. Essays and papers must be in English.
The following topics are offered as suggestions only:
The Moomin Oeuvre:
As children’s literature
As parody
As allegory
As philosophy
Comic aspects
The supernatural
The franchised Moomins
Jansson’s novels
Jansson’s memoirs
Jansson’s picture-books
Jansson as artist
Jansson as book illustrator
Jansson as cartoonist
Jansson and artistic / writerly identity
Jansson and politics
Jansson and gender / sexuality
Jansson and language
Jansson in translation
Jansson in comparison with other writers / artists (for example, Oxford-based children’s writers such as Lewis Carroll, J. R. R. Tolkien, Philip Pullman and Matthew Skelton)
Themes in Jansson’s writing:
Nationalism
Childhood
Psychoanalysis
The family
Individuality / communality
Bohemia / bourgeoisie
Landscape, nature
Please send proposals of up to 300 words to Kate McLoughlin or Malin Lidstrom Brock .
Call for Papers: Phoenix Rising
Phoenix Rising, an interdisciplinary Harry Potter-themed symposium to take place May 17-21, 2007, in New Orleans, Louisiana, seeks papers, panels, interactive workshops, roundtable discussions, and other presentation formats suitable for an audience of academics, students, professionals, and fans. The overarching conference themes focus on rebirth, cycles, and the rise of the hero at the end of the sixth book in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Additionally, special attention will be given to the arts, including examinations of Harry Potter and its convergence with music, visual arts, and film. The programming will not be limited to those themes, however, and presentations that address the Harry Potter series, related works, and phenomenon across all disciplines are encouraged as well. A non-exhaustive list of sample topics includes literary analyses of the novels; studies of the cultural phenomenon; use of the novels in schools and libraries for education; examination of related business and legal issues; scientific explanations of magic in the series; media and fan studies; craft-based workshops in writing, art, and publishing; and overviews of how the series and films fit into larger contexts.
Submission to the vetting board is by online system only. No other format or contact will be accepted. The submission system is located at , and will be open on March 31, 2006.
For those requiring an early decision in order to obtain travel funding, the deadline for submission is September 1, 2006 with a response no later than September 10, 2006. All other submissions are due by November 1, 2006 with a response date of December 1, 2006. At the time of submission, we require an abstract of 300-500 words for each separate presentation, a 50-100 word summary, and a short 50-100 word presenter biography. Those wishing to submit a proposal for a roundtable discussion may submit a brief explanation of a topic and a list of 10-15 sample discussion questions in lieu of a formal abstract. Conference papers will be collected for publication at a later date. Presenters must be registered for the conference no later than February 1, 2007. For more information about programming, our review process, and submissions,
please see the Phoenix Rising website at . Questions specifically about programming may be directed to programming @.
Phoenix Rising is a presentation of Narrate Conferences, Inc., a non-profit educational corporation with the mission of organizing academic, literary, and exploratory conferences that appeal to scholars, students, professionals, and fans. For inquiries about Narrate Conferences, Inc., please write to info@.
New Orleans, LA • May 17-21, 2007
A Harry Potter Symposium presented by Conferences, inc.
Boys, Girls, Birds and Beasts: Gender Construction and Animals in
Children's Literature
2006 MLA Convention
Philadelphia, December 27-30, 2006
This special session will examine how the companionship of animals
guides and influences and/or determines children's socialization and
emotional and sexual development in literature for children and young
adults.
Please send abstracts electronically by March 30th to:
Ms. Tali Noimann
tnoimann@honorscollege.cuny.edu
BRITISH IBBY/NCRCL MA CONFERENCE, NOVEMBER 11TH 2006 (Roehampton University, London)
TIME EVERLASTING: REPRESENTATIONS OF PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
Crucial aspects of social, cultural and individual development are related to the child’s relationship with and understanding of past, present and future. As an abstract concept, the notion of time may be difficult for children to grasp, but numerous authors have presented young readers with engaging narratives that deal with time from a range of perspectives and through a variety of genres. For their 2006 conference, the British Section of IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) and the NCRCL (National Centre for Research in Children’s Literature) will look at how time is presented to young readers at the dawn of a new millennium, looking back to the past which has shaped their present and forward to the future which young people will grow into.
The conference will include keynote talks by well-known writers and academics, and a wide range of workshop sessions. Details from Laura Atkins at L.Atkins@roehampton.ac.uk.
CALL FOR PAPERS:
Childhood in Edwardian Fiction
(Collection of Critical Essays)
We are seeking proposals for critical essays on Childhood in Edwardian
Fiction (1901-1914). The Edwardian period is often portrayed as an age of
innocence, but it was also a time when Victorian moral attitudes were being challenged either overtly or covertly. It was also a time when perceptions of childhood were rapidly and significantly changing. Children were no longer to be seen and not heard but were the focus of increasing cultural, literary, anthropological and social interest. This collection is interested in assessing literary responses to Edwardian childhood by
examining the ways in which childhood is captured in significant texts of the period. We are interested in essays that consider childhood as it is revealed in fiction written for children or for adults or both
readerships. Indeed we particularly wish to encourage approaches which are
not bound by artificial distinctions between adult and children’s fiction.
We envisage that completed essays will be 7,000-7,500 words in length and due in September 2007.
Please email 500-word proposals and a short biography by 17 November 2006
to BOTH editors:
Adrienne Gavin
aeg1@canterbury.ac.uk
Andrew Humphries
afh4@cantberbury.ac.uk
Dr Adrienne Gavin
Reader in English
Department of English
Canterbury Christ Church University
Canterbury
Kent CT1 1QU
Andrew Humphries
Senior Lecturer
Department of Education
Canterbury Christ Church University
Canterbury
Kent CT1 1QU
CALL FOR PAPERS :
Children’s Literature and Psychoanalysis
A two-day conference at the University of Hertfordshire
Friday 13th and Saturday 14th April 2007
with
Margaret Rustin (Tavistock Clinic) and Michael Rustin (University of East London) authors of Narratives of Love and Loss: Studies in Modern Children’s Fiction, considering Dr. Who
Rosemary Stones
Editor Books for Keeps, practising psychotherapist;
stories with meaning throughout our lives
As the literature written for children becomes increasingly centre-stage in cultural studies, the use that children make of literature in the maturation process and to illustrate their inner worlds is a key aspect of practical and academic interest. This conference offers an opportunity to educators, psychotherapists, scholars, parents and other lovers of children’s literature to meet, consider and debate the issues raised by a psychoanalytical approach to children’s books with the foremost thinkers in the field.
We would welcome proposals for papers – or notes towards a paper - on all aspects of the topic including reading to infants, children’s television and drama, book-related play, fairy stories, myth, story-telling, and fantasy; education, genre and/or author studies, change and innovation in children’s literature, the publishing industry, childhood, and theoretical perspectives.
If you would like to contribute a paper for inclusion at the conference and for consideration for the new University of Hertfordshire Annual of Children’s Literature, please send, by Friday January 26th 2007, an abstract of no more that 250 words to:
Dr. Jenny Plastow
University of Hertfordshire School of Education
Hatfield
Hertfordshire AL10 9AB
j.j.plastow@herts.ac.uk t: 01707 285618
Call for Papers: Irish Society for the |Study of Children’s Literature, 5th annual conference
Re-Evaluating Gender in Children’s Literature
23-23 February, 2007
Church of Ireland College of Education, Dublin
Proposals are welcome relating to the above and associated topics, including in the areas of poetry, drama, and film for children. Proposals relating to masculinities will be especially welcome.
Proposals of 300 words should be sent to:
Celia Keenan
St. Patrick’s College
Drumconda
Dublin 9
Ireland
E-mail: celia.keenan@spd.dci.ie
IVAN FRANCO NATIONAL UNIVERSITY IN LVIV
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES,INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH SOCIETY FOR CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
And ASSOCIATION OF ARTISTS “DZYGA”
announce
THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOLARLY SYMPOSIUM
“Visualizing the child in children’s fiction”
to be held on 11-13 April 2007
in Lviv, Ukraine
[pic]
Conference venue: 1 Universytetska Str., Lviv 79000, Ukraine
Mailing addresses:
Ulyana Hnidets, а/с 7549 Lviv -11, 79011, Ukraine
E-mail: symposium_child@
Suggested topics:
1. The historical development of fiction for children and youth
2. Folktales and fairy tales for children
3. Autobiography and fiction for children and youth
4. Social and political aspects of fiction for children and youcth
5. Child’s psychology in fiction
6. The place of books for children and adolescents in the literary system
7. Literary theory and fiction for children
8. Translating fiction for children
Conference Schedule
Arrival: 10 April 2007
Proceedings: 11-13 April 2007
Departure: 14 April 2007
Planned Agenda
1. Opening session
Keynote speaker:
Prof. Dr. Kimberly Reynolds, President of IRSCL
“Visualising Despair: Contemporary Narratives for the Young Featuring Death, Depression and Self-harm”
2. Scholarly workshops and sessions
Confirmed speakers include Clare Bradford (Australia), Dan Hade (U.S.A), Ariko Kawabata (Japan), Pamela Knights (U.K.), Mavis Reimer (Canada), Katrien Vloeberghs (Belgium), Sandra Becket (Canada), Bettina Kümmerling Meibauer (Germany), Thomas Van der Walt (South Africa), Harald Bache-Wiig (Norway), Alicja Ungeheuer-Gołąb (Poland), Anca – Felicia Dumitrescu (Romania), Durla Bogdan Ionut (Romania), Dragana Kršenković Brković (Montenegro), Morteza Khosronejad (Iran), Marina Kostyuchina (Russia).
3. The annual board meeting
of the International Research Society for Children’s Literature
Planned Activities
• Meeting with the most popular publishers in Ukraine
• Exhibition of Ukrainian books for children
• Round-table meeting on the prospects of fiction for children in Ukraine and abroad.
• Special guests:
Christine Nöstlinger, Renate Welsh (supported by Österreich-Ukrainisches Kooperation für Wissenschaft, Bildung und Kultur)
Kirsten Boie, Jutta Richter (supported by Goethe-Institut Kiew)
Moderator: literate, interpreter Yuryi Prohas’ko
• Meeting with Dr. Beatrix Weber-Bertschi, psychotherapist for children (Switzerland): “Children’s literature as psychotherapist’s help in the children’s psychological praxis”
Symposium Languages:
Ukrainian, Russian, English, German
Offers of papers
Article requirements:
• Up to 12 pages (0.5 printer's sheet – 20 000 characters);
• Times New Roman font, 14 point type, Normal style, 1.5 line-to-line spacing, 2.5 cm margins;
• Ukrainian, English, German
The submitted paper should be written on a topical theme. All papers will be reviewed by the Symposium’s referees. Notification of acceptance will be sent by 15 December 2006.
The text of the paper is to be sent to symposium_child@ as an attachment in MS WORD 7.0 and later. A short summary (300-350 words) should be added in the end of the article. The references are to be indicated in the text by numbers from the alphabetical list, e.g. [4, p. 12-14]. The list of references contains items first in Cyrillic, if any, and then in Latin scripts.
The publishing price per page is 5 EUROS.
Symposium Deadlines
Texts of papers:
30 November 2006
Full details and registration forms appear on the IRSCL website.
Please, check these pages for new information about symposium details:
Conference announcement:
19/20 April 07. ACTS OF READING : TEACHERS, TEXTS AND CHILDHOOD FROM THE 18THC TO THE PRESENT DAY.
Keynote speaker Shirley Brice Heath. Contributors include Bearne, Watson, Styles and Elizabeth Johnson from Lilly Library. Includes launch of READING
LESSONS FROM THE 18THC (Arizpe & Styles) sponsored by Pied Piper
Publishing. Marilyn Brocklehurst's bookshop with a wide range of books for
children and scholarly books on children's literature. Call for papers will
follow shortly. Contact Morag Styles (ms104@cam.ac.uk) for more info.
Call for Papers
International Symposium: Faith, Myth & Literary Creation since 1850
Lille Catholic University, Lille, France 18th/19th May 2007
Religious faith, myths and legends have always been present in literature. However, their role has changed over time. Since the middle of the 19th century, with the diminishing role of religion in European society, writers with some kind of belief system, whether religious or political, have tended to use myth in two different ways. They have either retold the old, familiar myths of the past (classical, Nordic, Arthurian, medieval etc.) so that they carry a new message to their own generation or created their own, new myths as modern vehicles of traditional truths. Many writers have combined the two techniques.
We are seeking papers which explore either of these uses of faith and myth in English, French or other European literature since 1850. Contributors may wish to concentrate on a single author or compare two or three authors’ treatment of the same theme. Papers may be delivered in English or French.
Academic panel: Suzanne Bray (Lille Catholic University), Christine Fletcher (University of Maryland University College), Adrienne Gavin (Canterbury Christ Church University), Emmanuel Godo (Lille Catholic University), Daniel Warzecha (Lille III University)
Please send any questions and propositions for papers (250 to 300 words) to suzanne.bray@icl-lille.fr by May 31st 2006
Call for Papers: The Looking Glass invites submissions to all columns and sections for a special issue:
Indigenous Peoples
Deadline for Submissions: 1 November 2006 Publication date: April 2007
Critical and informative articles are welcome on indigenous peoples of the world, such as the Aborigine, Ainu, Native Americans, and First Nations. Topics should include indigenous peoples’ cultures and literatures, storytelling practices, stories and tales, childrearing practices and coming-of-age rituals, how indigenous peoples are portrayed in dominant cultures’ children’s literature historically and in contemporary times, and the effects of globalization on indigenous cultures and children. Please see for submission guidelines and editorial policies.
The Looking Glass is always accepting submissions to the following:
• Alice’s Academy, the scholarly refereed section
• The Mentor, the section specifically designed for students and professors to work together in creating publishable scholarship (submissions must be made by a professor with the student’s permission)
• Jabberwocky, the column on children’s literature in translation
• Mirrors and Windows, the column and readers’ forum on children’s literature published in the past five years
• Curiouser and Curiouser, the column on folk retellings
• My Own Invention, the column on teaching children’s literature at all education levels
• Illuminating Texts, the column of author and illustrator interviews and articles
• Caucus Race, a column highlighting important children’s literature and culture websites.
Submissions on children’s book publishing and technology and children’s literature are also desired.
Please send all submissions to editor@the-looking- and state for which column submissions are intended. Submissions to Alice’s Academy, Jabberwocky, and The Mentor must be between 2500 and 4000 words and conform to current MLA citation standards. Submissions to all other columns must be between 1000 and 3000 words. The Looking Glass cannot accept simultaneous submissions or previously published articles. Published articles will be posted on the journal’s website for at least three months, after which time they will be archived online. For more information, please see .
CALL FOR PAPERS: Canadian Children’s Literature
CCL: Canadian Children's Literature/ Littérature canadienne pour la jeunesse
is moving to the University of Winnipeg as of January, 2005, with Perry Nodelman of the Department of English as Editor and Mavis Reimer of the Department of English and Anne Rusnak of the Department of French Studies and German Studies as Associate Editors. The new editors are now accepting submissions.
CCL: Canadian Children's Literature/ Littérature canadienne pour la jeunesse is a bilingual refereed academic journal that advances knowledge and
understanding of texts of Canadian children's literature in a range of media
in both English and French.
Articles may be submitted as attachments in Word or RTF format to: ccl@uwinnipeg.ca
Alternately, submit three copies on paper, along with a stamped, self-addressed return envelope, to:
CCL
Department of English
University of Winnipeg
515 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg MB R3B 2E9
All submissions should conform to MLA style. Since papers are vetted blind,
the name and contact information of the author should be removed from the
submission and appear on a separate page with your contact information (including phone number and e-mail address). Decisions about submitted papers should be made within three months.
CALL FOR PAPERS: Storytelling: A Critical Journal of Popular Narrative
The peer-reviewed, quarterly journal Storytelling is dedicated to analyses of popular narratives in the widest sense of the phrase and as evidenced in the media and all aspects of culture. Although past essays have focused on children‘s literature, comics, detective/crime fiction, film, horror/gothic, popular music, romance, science fiction, and television, submissions are by no means confined to these areas.
Executive Editors: Bonnie Plummer and
Sharon Bailey, Eastern Kentucky University, USA
Submission Details. Manuscripts should see the narrative as a reflection of culture; use
theory to analyze the work, not work to illustrate theory; employ scholarship; and be written for the general audience. The executive editors are especially interested in visual accomplishments, bibliographies, and interviews with creators of popular narratives.
Submissions should include a short (50-word) abstract, be between 10 to 15 double-spaced, typed pages (approximately 3,300 to 6,000 words), and follow the MLA Style Manual by Joseph Gibaldi (2nd ed., 1998), including parenthetical citations in text and an alphabetized list of Works Cited. Authors should submit two copies of their manuscript with a stamped return envelope if return of manuscript is desired.
Address submissions to:
Elizabeth Foxwell. Managing Editor, Storytelling: A Critical Journal of Popular Narrative
Heldref Publications
1319 Eighteenth St, NW
Washington, DC 20036-1802 USA
Email: storytelling@
The Looking Glass seeks a home:
The Looking Glass: New Perspectives on Children's Books, an electronic journal about children's literature, seeks a general editor and an institutional publisher.
This journal is currently published by a small group of volunteers. Our expertise includes writing, editing, teaching, publishing, librarianship, and scholarship -- various aspects of the children's book trade. Active and capable editors will continue to oversee the individual columns, and the journal seeks to further cultivate its growing base of international topics, readers, and contributors. Graduate programs, especially, may wish to consider The Looking Glass as a forum for the stimulation and exchange of ideas, as well as an opportunity to experience the editing and proofing processes.
About The Looking Glass:
The site was launched April 2, 1997 -- International Children's Book Day. As our name suggests, we combine an interest in the traditional with an eye to the modern. Our readers and contributors are academics, librarians, teachers, parents and anyone else fascinated by the world of children's literature. In the beginning, our parent organization was the Toronto Centre for the Study of Children's Literature (TCSCL), then housed at the Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto, now at York University. Since 1 July 1998, however, The Looking Glass has been independent of any institutional support.
Interested parties should contact the Editor at: editor@the-looking-
Book Reviews
We are always looking for reviewers. Complete guidelines as well as a list of books currently available for review and comprehensive archive of the books that have been reviewed to date can be found on the appropriate section of the IRSCL web site. Please contact the Reviews Editor, Christine Wilkie-Stibbs if you are interested in reviewing, and remember to instruct your publisher to supply her with two copies of any new publications you produce.
Christine Wilkie-Stibbs, University of Warwick, CV4 7AL, UK. E-mail : c.wilkie@warwick.ac.uk or Cwilkiestibbs@.
Review guidelines
Reviews should be not more than 1,000 words with (as appropriate) a 200-300 word English language summary. We anticipate that reviews will be fair, balanced, academically rigorous assessments of the books, and that the reviews will be a reliable source of information for colleagues' professional needs.
If members have seen reviews of relevant books in their local journals, it would be helpful to have copies of these sent for a 'round up' feature.
The Robber with a Witch’s Head. More Stories from the Great Treasury of Sicilian Folk and Fairy Tales Collected by Laura Gonzenback. Translated and Edited by Jack Zipes.
Illustrations by Jellin Rock.
New York and London, Routledge, 2004.
ISBN 0-415-97069-5
A companion and enrichment to a former volume entitled Beautiful Angiola: The Great Treasury of Sicilian Folk and Fairy Tales (2004), this book provides the common reader and the scholar with an additional group of forty-two Sicilian fairy tales. Easy to read, and elegantly illustrated by Jellin Rock, they prove critically fascinating. Although belonging to a well-known discursive area, in which the dateless voices of orality are fixed in the historical frame of the written text, these fairy tales seem to have made a longer and more complex journey. Emerging from the fertile cultural palimpsest of the area at the centre of the Mediterranean -- a crossroads of Roman, Norman, Arab, Greek, Phoeinician, Spanish, French voices -- they got extracted from the Sicilian dialect and recorded in German by a young woman member of a small Swiss community in Messina.
The adventurous events which are behind this collection of stories are told by Jack Zipes in a vivid introductory essay, where he describes the discovery of this ‘buried treasure’ and its importance. We learn that these fairy tales were directly taken from the mouth of peasant women living on the Eastern coast of Sicily by a young Swiss woman endowed with many extraordinary talents, named Laura Gonzenbach. Laura Gonzenbach lived in Messina, where she was a young member of the prosperous and cosmopolitan Swiss mercantile community. Born in 1842, she died young, in 1878. It was Laura who listened to and wrote down the tales in the nineteenth century. She was one of several intellectuals whose interest in folklore was fostered by the Brothers Grimm collection. Despite the fact that all the family papers were lost in the disastrous 1908 Messina earthquake, the stories which constitute the treasure of the present book (with a few letters) had been previously salvaged and published in Germany by a historian and friend of the Gonzenbachs.
Their value had already been established during Laura’s life: a young woman who could master German, French, Italian and Sicilian dialect at once, Gonzenbach had attended the school of the German-Swiss Protestant community in Messina, and was well known for her ability as a story teller. Dr. Otto Hartwig, who became minister in Messina in the 1860s, was gathering material for a historico-cultural survey, Aus Sizilien: Kultur und Gesichtsbilder (1867-1869). On his return to Germany, Dr.Hartwig asked Laura to send him a few tales for an “Appendix” to his work. Laura, “a formidable teller of fairy tales”, and probably endowed with an excellent ear and ability to capture the lines of the oral thread spun by Sicilian story–tellers, at first sent him ten stories. Subsequently however, in 1868, Laura sent to Dr.Hartwig eighty-two tales so that instead of providing the “Appendix” to Hartwig’s History, her contribution would be published as an independent two-volume work, Sizilianische Märchen, printed in Leipzig in 1870.
The seminal importance of Gonzenbach’s work, her remarkable contribution among those early passionate nineteenth-century collectors of Italian folklore, was also pointed out by Italo Calvino. In “Le fiabe italiane” (1956), he reminded us of the early work of those German enthusiasts -- among them Widter and Wolf in Venice, Herman Knust in Leghorn, and notably Laura Gonzenbach in Sicily-- whose passion proved infectious to a young generation of Italian scholars who followed in their footsteps as collectors of “novelline” or self-styled, according to Pitré, as “demopsychologists”: De Gubernatis in the Siena region, Vittorio Imbriani in Florence, Comparetti in Pisa and Giuseppe Pitré in Sicily.
After having sketched the events which relate to the publication of Gonzenbach’s stories, Zipes tackles the central problem connected with the literary fairy-tale, that is to say, the passages intervening between orality and literacy, between the voices of the women met by Laura, and the actual written version of a story, made by a young literate woman who was familiar with the German literary tales and the stories collected and edited by the Brothers Grimm.
Knowing, as we do, that she could speak and understand Sicilian dialect, but that the stories were immediately translated into German by Gonzenbach herself, and that some ulterior stylistic changes were made at the prompting of Hartwig and his friend Reinhold Köhler, how close to the Sicilian oral tradition are these stories? Zipes infers that “one cannot say that her tales are ‘authentic’ folk tales”, yet he makes a point of maintaining that “Gonzenbach remained faithful to the ideological perspective of women from the lower class, whose struggle… is a major theme in the tales.” Not casually indeed one can mention the names of those women, still worth recalling: they were Lucia, Cicca Crialesi, Nunzia Giuffridi, Bastiana, Antonia Centorrino, Elisabetta and Concetta Martinotti, Francesca Rusullo, Peppina Guglielmo, Caterina Certo. Only one male story-teller is remembered, Alessandro Grasso. Not only these women’s viewpoint is kept by Gonzenbach in her rendering of the fairy-tales: we are told by Calvino that on the title page of her collection, there were the portraits of two story-tellers, Caterina Certo, from San Pietro Monforte (Messina) and Francesca (Cicca) Crialese from the Borgo in Catania. Both had been portrayed wearing the costume of their village.
It becomes evident that in her role as a story-teller Gonzenbach did intentionally preserve, despite the literay bent of her Hochdeutsch, a marked gendered viewpoint. This is the viewpoint of the protagonists of the majority of the stories. They are “the youngest daughter”, “the youngest sister”, “the clever maiden”, “the sister”, whether they be called Maruzzedda, Innocenta, Angiola, Sabedda, Maria, Sorfarina or Zafarana. All these young women, with a few exceptions, are made to act in difficult situations, in which their honesty and cleverness, their ability to handle adverse conditions with quick, skillful strategies which defy their opponants, eventually find the recompense of marriage, wealth, status. Despite the fact that these stories, as remarked by Salvatore Salomone- Marino, relate “…of ancient times, tales of sorcerers and Queens”, formulaic refrains at the end of each story (“and we are left without a cent”) bring the attention back to the stark reality of the story-teller, a Sicilian peasant whose bread is scant, food and water very scarce, rents due to the local baron too high, and whose life is generally hard, hardest indeed when facing old age. These storytellers do not allow the fairy-tale to trespass from its magic domain into their own history: and perhaps for this reason the protagonist is often a lower-class peasant who can cheat the lord, a clever farmer whose witty answers please the king; a scoundrel of picaresque vocation who can make the best of very modest means. Religion often appears in conjunction with wizardry; a rooster wants to become Pope, but there is also “A Pious Young Man Who Went to Rome” and discovered that the devil was the cook in the monastery.Harbours and castles and forests are there, but also merchants with their ships and their money; cisterns where somebody gets thrown in; ugly daughters cut into pieces, salted in barrels as tuna fish. Words are exchanged, kept, broken; they are made into spells, prayers, curses. Women, and perhaps this is the most unique trait of these tales, are often the protagonists of stories in which they have to leave their home, and brutal parents, in order not to be treated like slaves: their stories, according to Zipes, are “emancipatory tales”, especially when their behaviour is compared with the passivity which often characterizes Grimm’s heroines. In this aspect, one may detect the respect Laura Gonzenbach shows for her narrator, her ideological perspective, the gendered viewpoint; and maybe also detect the enchantment that voices from the land “wo die Zitronen blumen” had for a young Swiss woman and for the German scholarly tradition around her.
[?] Italo Calvino, “Le fiabe italiane” [1956], in Sulla fiaba. Milano, Mondadori, 2004, pp. 31-78.
2 A well-known scholar on internation folklore (1830-1892), he contributed notes to the original edition of Gonzenbach’s Sicilianische Märchen.Aus dem Volksmund gesammelt (1870).
3 J. Zipes, “Laura Gonzenbach’s Buried Treasure”, cit., pp.xv-xvi.
4 I. Calvino, “Le fiabe italiane”, cit., p.49.
5 S. Salomone-Marino, a contemporary of Pitré, was the author of Customs and Habits of the Sicilian Peasants. In J. Zipes, “Laura Gonzenbach’s Buried Treasure”, cit., p.xvii
6 Ibidem, p.xxiv.
Francesca Orestano
Università degli Studi di Milano – Italy
International Companion Encyclopedia of Children's Literature, Second Edition, Peter Hunt (Ed). Oxford & New York: Routledge, 2004. 2 vols. ISBN 0-415-29054-6 and 0-415-29055-4. 1374 pp.
The first International Companion Encyclopedia of Children's Literature came out ten years ago, before I became involved in Children's Literature studies. Reviewing the revised edition, then, I come to it fresh, never having encountered the first edition. This new version, more than double the size of the first, collects in two volumes over 100 articles covering the breadth of children's literature from nearly every imaginable perspective. If nothing else, the presence of the books on library shelves should be enough to put to rest the canard that no important work is done in the field, or that children's literature is not "serious."
One might most usefully approach the volumes as five separate books: "Theory and Critical Approaches," the first, collects essays introducing neophyte and reminding the experienced scholar of the most important approaches to children's literature. David Rudd sets the tone with his essay on "the conditions of possibility in children's literature," focusing on the concept of hybridity, a concept that threads through the rest of the collection in useful ways. The second, "Forms and Genres," provides a somewhat eclectic collection of essays both analytical and descriptive of the varieties of children's literature, while the third (opening the second volume) focuses on "Contexts." "Applications" follows, with a focus on pedagogical and practical concerns. The heart of the book for many readers will be the last section, a collection of over 40 essays on national literatures for children, arranged alphabetically from Africa to the USA.
Few readers, obviously, will approach the volumes as this reviewer did, moving purposefully from introduction to index. Few should. Most, in fact, will start in the index, looking for a specific author, nation, or novel in preparation for teaching or starting a new research project. Such readers will be rewarded by the breadth as well as by some surprises: a search for Ursula LeGuin leading one to an essay on bibliotherapy, for example, or discovering that "postmodernism" is discussed, among other places, in the essay on Korean children's literature. (And why not? I'm obviously far too ethnocentric; the encyclopedia is a wonderful cure.) Such an approach would no doubt also elide some of the gaps in the volume: how is it that Disney, with 16 mentions in the index (combining Disney films, Disney Corporation, and Disney Channel), does not come up in the essay on folk and fairy tales, for example?
The first two "books" are, at least to me, the most accessible, helpful, and at the same time slightly mystifying. The essays in the "Theory and Critical Approaches" section provide one of the most helpful overviews of the state of literary criticism today that I've encountered. While one might quibble slightly with some of the choices--an essay on feminist criticism but not on gender or queer theory? an international encyclopedia without an essay on multiculturalist approaches to children's literature?--the essays included are without exception helpful and provocative. One quickly gets a sense of the important critical "camps" (could we label them Jacqueline Rose and Alison Lurie?), the departures therefrom, and some of the stakes of the arguments. Definitions of the child and childhood, questions regarding the "universal" child, the history of children's literature, and the importance of literary criticism thread through the section. Again, David Rudd's opening salvo in this section should be required reading for all students of children's literature, and Perry Nodelman's essay on Mr Gumpy's Outing, which is really an essay on "Picture Books and Illustration," is a classic of its kind: the exemplary reading that opens up all the significant questions. There is a slight tone of defensiveness in some of the essays: my own research suggests that, for example, neither narrative theory nor stylistics is quite as neglected as the essays on these two approaches suggest. And, for the doggedly linear reader, I might suggest that Emer O'Sullivan's essay on "Comparative Children's Literature," focusing as it does on some of the central questions an "International" encyclopedia might raise, should come earlier in the volume.
The second "book," "Forms and Genres," seems to me a somewhat eclectic potpourri of essays on the many varieties of children's literature. Some of the essays tend toward genre history--those on school stories, pony stories, historical fiction, and the varieties of fantasy, for example. Others provide an analytic overview of the field without essaying a comprehensive history--the essays on children's poetry and on horror seem exemplary essays in this mode. One salutary effect of the compendious approach is to complicate the usual divisions in children's literature: we find the field divided not simply between picture book and novel, or fantasy and realism, but fruitfully cross-pollinated between "high" and "low" culture, pre-readers, young children, and teenagers, fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Because the essays themselves can be somewhat idiosyncratic takes on a field, and the reasons for selection are not always clear, the section does not feel as comprehensive as it first looks. What makes "pony books" a genre or form, for example, and not "dog stories"?
But it is fruitless to complain about what is not in the volumes when so much is. The third section, "Contexts," provides essays on the conditions of children's book publishing: not only writers, but designers, librarians, award-givers, and reviewers get their due here. Peter Hunt thoughtfully gives authors the last word in this section in his essay, "What the Authors Tell Us," which provides a compendium of children's authors speaking about their craft.
"Applications" may be most useful to the teacher and the librarian. While much of the encyclopedia aims directly at the academic literary critic, this section recognizes how much work in children's literature takes place outside the sometimes rarefied field of literary criticism--a salutary reminder for the critic as well as a useful resource for others choosing books for children.
The final section, "National and International," begins with six contextualizing essays (on the "world" of children's literature, translation in theory and practice, postcolonialism, culture, and children's literature organizations) before embarking on the nearly fifty essays on the traditions of children's literature arranged by nation and/or continent. These essays provide the beginning researcher in multinational children's literature with the tools to do further research. Those of us in English-speaking countries--especially in England and the US--are in the enviable position of exporting far more children's (and adult) literature than we import, but this can leave us ill-equipped to discuss the field as a whole. (Emer O'Sullivan notes that Great Britain "imports" only three per cent of its children's books, and the US only one per cent (v. I, 22).) The breadth and scope of these two volumes begin to remedy that lack.
Elisabeth Rose Gruner,
Associate Professor of English & Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies,
University of Richmond, USA.
International Companion Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature
Peter Hunt (Ed) Second Edition, Oxford & New York: Routledge, 2004. 2 vols. ISBN 0-415-29054-6 and 0-415-29055-4. 1374 pp.
The International Companion Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature is an extensive work and very useful for any scholar of children’s literature. The work comes in two volumes and contains more than one hundred essays written by a large number of (predominantly eminent) scholars of children’s literature. The first part of the work deals with theory, theoretical principles and analysis methodology in two large parts. Part two discusses the children’s book market, publishing and distribution, schools and libraries etc. And the last, and largest part, deals with national children’s literatures. The essays are divided into five sections: “Theory and critical approaches” (dealing with issues such as culture, gender, ideology, psychoanalysis and stylistics), “Forms and genres” (folk tales, poetry, science fiction, pony stories, school stories, etc), “Contexts” (containing essays on for instance censorship, publishing issues and film), “Applications” (educational and psychological aspects of children’s literature) and “National and International” (including overviews of national children’s literature in a wide range of countries and geographic areas, from Austria to Taiwan). Because of the scope of the subject area, the last part of the book is the largest, with “Forms and genres” a good second.
The essays offer the reader a glimpse into the subject and a few main ideas. Many essays include a list of further reading together with the reference list, giving the reader the possibility of looking further into the subject. Thus, the work is especially useful for beginning students of children’s literature. Nonetheless, due to the wide range of themes, even the experts in the field should be able to find some new and interesting ideas within the work. The work also contains an extensive 100 page index with authors, themes and titles, useful for any scholar. The index is not flawless, however, and lacks in cross-references. A useful, and uncommon, addition is Kimberley Reynolds’ international overview of children’s literature organisations, listing international, national and thematical organisations - wisely pointing out the need for such organisations to work together towards common terminology and methodology so that children’s literature research can be taken seriously in the academic world. Although some of the contact information will without doubt be out of date in a few years, the essay still instigates the spark for looking up organisations and scholars with a shared topic of interest; as well as showing that there are a large number of such organisations out there.
One problem with the work is, as it usually is with this type of encyclopedia, its Anglo-centricism. In the preface Peter Hunt addresses this problem and expresses his regrets for it. Admittedly the problem is a practical one and is motivated e.g. by the need for scholars to be able to read both the key works and reference materials in the English language. Bearing the international study of children’s literature in mind this does sound logical, but the fact remains that much non-English literature is neglected because basically only literature that has been translated into English is included. Due to this problem there are serious gaps concerning literature in smaller languages, especially with regards to the newer literature. As a scholar from a non-Anglo-American background, one misses some of the key works; for instance Mio, min Mio (Astrid Lindgren) seems a perfect example on problem-solving fantasy in Louisa Smith’s discussion on domestic fantasy. This is clear regarding the Scandinavian countries and Finland and it can safely be assumed that this is a universal problem. The well-known authors that are part of world literature, e.g. Topelius, Tove Jansson and Irmelin Sandman-Lilius are included, but both new and older important works are missing, and especially Finnish literature. This raises the question of why this encyclopedia is called International Companion Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature since, despite its efforts, it still remains clearly Anglo-centric.
The work begins with a couple of introductory essays. Margaret Meek’s introduction is a good opening into the work. It discusses among other things how any encyclopedia is tied to its own time and culture. Emer O’Sullivan’s introductory essay “Internationalism, the universal child and the world of children’s literature” discussing the idea of children’s literature as international and without boundaries is especially interesting. The essay is a good introduction into the topic as it outlines the different models of “universal childhood” offered by Paul Hazard, Zohar Shavit and Maria Nikolajeva. However, O’Sullivan problematizes all the different models as well as the whole idea of internationalism and especially “international classics”.
Part one begins with an historical exposition of what children’s literature is or is thought to be, and of the development of children’s literature analysis, offering an ideologically critical and analytical review of both older and newer models of interpretation (e.g. psychoanalytical, structuralist, gender theory and imperialist criticism). The focus is often on the age-old question of whether children’s literature should be considered a literature of its own, where the pedagogical and didactical aspects are more important than modern ideas of literature theory. The different essays emphasize the ideological (or other) contexts of the work and point to the attempts of many scholars to tear down the walls between mainstream literature and children’s literature in order to find new aspects in even the classics of children’s literature. The profundity and literary awareness in modern works by e.g. Philip Pullman is pointed out, opening up the possibility of strictly modern and current discourses, such as queer studies and - the above-mentioned – imperialist criticism. One problem that is not dealt with extensively is the criticism for political incorrectness (e.g. racism, sexism, neo-colonialism, etc) that, using modern analytical tools and theories, would affect – possibly even falsely – many of the children’s literature classics, especially the works from the Golden Age of children’s literature in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In these respects, one perspective within the research tradition that is not given enough room is the historical: putting the works into their historical and literary context. Thus these classics could better be seen as the pioneering works that they in fact were in their time. For example in Charles Sarland’s essay on “Critical tradition and ideological positioning”, books such as Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, Hugh Lofting’s The Story of Dr Doolittle and Arthur Ransome’s Secret Water are befallen by charges of racism, neo-colonialism and social bias. However, Sarland accentuates the potential for interesting contradictory readings. Books can be high-quality and popular despite their tendencies and attitudes. A remarkable phenomenon is that most children who have read the (sometimes outrageously racist) indian books usually support the losing party, i.e. the indians. Of the few chapters offering a more historical perspective on children’s literature the best one is possibly Tony Watkins’ “History and Culture”. The chapter discusses the fictivity of history and incorporates cultural studies. However, the essay contains too many quotes for such a short text – it feels as if Watkins has tried to include too much into the limited scope of the essay. Thus, some ideas, though fascinating, have been left hanging.
Another problem with the critical discussion of the classics that could have received more attention is the change in children’s literature after the breakthrough of psychoanalysis: much of the older literature would now be perhaps impossible to write – at least in a naïve unconscious manner. Because of this, one especially interesting essay is Maria Nikolajeva’s analysis of narrative theory and the narrative voices in children’s literature. Here she is not bound by political correctness and is thus able to choose enlightening examples of children’s literature at its very best. She also tries to break the barrier to mainstream literature in order to show that children’s literature can be analysed as seriously and theoretically as mainstream literature. Many children’s books are as complex with multiple narrative voices as any modernistic classic. The only narrative type almost completely absent in children’s literature, according to Nikolajeva, is completely monologic stories, because children’s literature generally maintains a didactic and social aspect.
The second large section in Part One deals with the genres of children’s literature and their historical development. The oldest literature and folk literature is often viewed positively and seen as a foundation for the literature to come. This is evident in the chapter on myths and legends, which is fairly detailed and covers a large area. Unfortunately, the chapter on folk and fairy tales is more superficial and suffers from Anglo-centrism. Mostly, material translated into English is pointed out as important for the development of the genre. Understandably Perrault, the brothers Grimm, H.C. Andersen and even Asbjörnsen and Moe are included because of their becoming well-known through Andrew Lang’s important “colour” collections of fairytales. But it is remarkable that Antoine Galland’s Les mille et Une Nuits (1704 onward) that was so important for the development of fairytales, as well as literature per se, is not included in the French section but only because of a the selection translated into English. Its general significance is not mentioned at all. Neither is the important selection of Russian fairytales by Afanasiev mentioned, nor our Finnish Kalevala (and Eero Salmelainen’s collections). Furthermore, the development from folk to fairy tale should have been discussed in more detail.
Outstanding are, on the other hand, the two sections on children’s own oral tradition and modern children’s lore. It is well worth pointing out that the first one is written by a pioneer in this area, Iona Opie. The children and their culture and creativity are in focus in the Opie’s text, as well as in Andy Arleo’s survey of modern children’s folklore. Here, like in many other places, nonsense literature is seen as superb (and even superior?), both with respect to the children’s own creations and in texts written for children – perhaps emphasizing a typically British tradition. Arleo points out that many may be shocked by that which is ambiguous in this tradition; things that can be seen as obscene or racist. He states that “It should however, be remembered that obscene items do not necessarily carry the same meanings for children as for adults; explicit sexual allusions, for example, are often only partially understood and the degree of comprehension varies from child to child. The same applies to sexist and racist material that can be found on the playground” (I, 293).
With regards to the remaining accounts of children’s literature, it seems that the more traditional genres are perhaps considered more cursorily, whereas the modern genres and literature that is considered important by recent research is emphasized; giving a slightly “trend-aware” impression of the work. Some important older material that is not fashionable has thus been excluded or has suffered from a more modern critical view. Such is the fate of for instance poetry written explicitly for children and classics by R. L. Stevenson, Walter de la Mare and A.A. Milne: authors often regarded as white, middle class bourgeoisie with a patronizing view of children. This seems unfair especially concerning de la Mare, for not only were his poetry anthologies ground-breaking, so too were his short stories and fantasy tales which should have been mentioned. With him, the border between adult and children’s literature is truly hazy and he is an overlooked pioneer within fantasy literature already in the 1910s and 1920s. It should, however, be pointed out that Morag Styles acknowledges that the three authors’ collections of poetry are good poetry, shown by the fact that time and the children themselves have accepted it – the works are still popular and in print.
Considering more current genres, such as fantasy, sci-fi and horror, the articles are more rounded and insightful. Especially the articles on fantasy, divided into subsections on “high fantasy” and “domestic fantasy” are comprehensive and contain much new material. The selection of future 20th century classics listed by C.W. Sullivan III (I, 445) would fit into any specialist work. It also points to the fact that within fantasy there is no barrier (with regards to quality or genre) between mainstream and children’s literature. And viewing today’s Harry Potter fever and the success of Philip Pullman, we can foresee further development of the genre. A truly fascinating chapter, pinpointing the modern alignment of the work is Dennis Gifford’s article on popular literature, with a review of older adventure and entertainment literature for the working class and the youth (“penny dreadfuls”) - not very long ago considered pulp literature. This genre is becoming increasingly explored by serious scholars, who often by employing a discourse or context analysis find unexpected contexts. Sweeney Todd, Buffalo Bill, Nick Carter and Sexton Blake thus become interesting literary figures in a line ranging from the beginning of the 19th century to WWII, when the paper shortage in Great Britain, the development of pocket books and new literary ideals finished them off. Other “modern” popular genres that are treated positively – from the children’s point of view – are horror literature, and the modern bizarre/absurd picturebooks.
The variation in the essays’ length and content are, as is expected, varied. Some are very thoroughly researched and insightful, whereas others seem too superficial and/or out of date and raise the question whether or not they have been revised for the second edition. For instance the essay on Nordic children’s literature (by Boel Westin) contains no books published after 1995 and leaves out some key works, such as Anna-Clara Tidholm’s wordless picturebooks for toddlers; and leaves the discussion on Maria Gripe very short. On the other hand, the essay on film by Ian Wojcik-Andrews has included works as recent as Finding Nemo (2003). This essay is highly interesting and broadens the subject by including a discussion on The Matrix and its relationship to Alice. However, it suffers from its second part on theory being too hastily dealt with and would benefit from some longer discussions. Since this is one of the shorter essays, the space could have been offered for further discussion. One of the top essays is David Buckingham’s exploration of television which offers a thorough and interesting overview of children’s television. Besides being fascinating, the essay also has a clear structure and is thus easy to follow. Some of the essays use sub-headings, making it easier to follow the line of the argument and finding the key points. One such essay is the discussion on animal stories by Simon Flynn, which also offers a very good overview of the history, use and other aspects of animal stories, touching down on key ideas such as animism, boundaries between animal/human and hybridity.
Although the length, style, and quality of the articles vary it can safely be said that the International Companion Encyclopedia of Children’s literature is a work that any scholar of children’s literature would profit from. Because of the diverse range of articles, anyone should be able to find something that interests them within the approximately 1400 pages of the work. It is commendable that such a work has been compiled and it has certainly not been an easy job for Peter Hunt as editor to keep the whole thing together. Our only concerns are with the minor flaws of omission pointed out in this review and we are hoping to see them corrected in the third edition.
Elin Fellman-Suominen, Åbo Academy University, Finland
& Urban Fellman, Sydväst Polytechnic, Finland
Research students of children’s literature
Inside the World of Literary Criticism for Children & Adolescents
Ang, Susan 2002 The Master of the Rings: Inside the World of J. R. R. Tolkien Icon books Ltd: Cambridge ISBN – 1-84046-423-2
Fox, Geoff 2004. Dear Mr. Morpingo: Inside the World of Michael Morpurgo. Icon books Ltd: Cambridge ISBN 1-84046-607-3
Tucker, Nicholas 2003. Inside the World of Philip Pullman: Darkness Visible Icon books Ltd: Cambridge
Small publishing houses are always worth watching: they cannot afford to take huge financial risks, but have to be innovative enough to find their own niche in the market. Wizard Books Ltd., an imprint of iconbooks, is a small publishing house which specialises in non-fiction writing for children and adolescents. Their products are distributed through Penguin Canada, Allen & Unwin in Australia and in Europe, South Africa and Asia through Faber & Faber. As a result, they are both reasonably priced and easily available.
One of Wizard’s recent innovations is a series of studies of individual authors and their works. At present the series is sporadic and the publishing director, Simon Flynn, freely acknowledges that it is not being consciously developed. This is slightly surprising since the three volumes in the series so far are written by critics whose names will be familiar to IRSCL members. They include: Susan Ang’s The Master of the Rings: Inside the World of J. R. R. Tolkien (2002), Nicholas Tucker’s Inside the World of Philip Pullman: Darkness Visible (2003) and Geoff Fox’s Dear Mr. Morpingo: Inside the World of Michael Morpurgo (2004). As the titles of these books suggest, they combine author biography with an overview of the literary works. They also take up some of the key themes, points of interest and/or background sources. When summarised in this way, the series sounds rather conventional, and perhaps not particularly interesting. In practice, however, these works are part of what I regard as an exciting new movement in the field of children’s literature. These books are representatives of a new genre of literary criticism: texts which are specifically intended to be accessible to young readers.
Most critics of children’s literature are very aware that there is something rather odd about the way in which the criticism they write has taken the form of adults speaking to adults about works written for a different audience, namely children. Whilst I appreciate such forms of criticism, I am delighted to see the emergence of literary criticism which returns works of children’s literature to their young readers. This shows not only an increased appreciation of the readers and their books, it also serves as a timely reminder that the marriage of pedagogical concerns and literary appreciation has spawned many healthy off-spring.
Susan Ang’s The Master of the Rings: Inside the World of J. R. R. Tolkien
The first book in the series, The Master of the Rings, is the least confident about its readership, perhaps because it is about Tolkien. Ang, like others, distinguishes between The Hobbit as a work of children’s literature and The Lord of the Rings and Silmarillion as works intended for adults. Nevertheless, the publication format and Ang’s tone of voice appear to acknowledge that The Lord of the Rings is widely read by adolescents, even though they were not Tolkien’s target audience. Ang is self-confessed “Tolkienomanic” and The Master of the Rings is apparently addressed to other sufferers of this “most dangerous and communicable” disease (p.9). Readers will be left in no doubt about Ang’s passion for Tolkien’s writing.
Unlike Tucker and Fox, who could draw on interviews with living authors, Ang’s biography of Tolkien is based on previously published sources. The result is a perfectly reasonable overview, albeit not particularly engaging. It quotes quite a few of Tolkien’s letters, describes the Inklings and comments on the rift that formed between Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. The biography is followed by chapters on The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings interspersed with a chapter on publishing history. These are followed by a chapter examining the influence of Tolkien on other writers, a chapter on the various film versions and four appendices (a brief history of Middle Earth prior to the time of The Lord of the Rings and three glossaries of characters, places and artefacts).
Ang’s book does not contain any plot summaries, but rather jumps directly into discussions such as the image of the maimed hand (p. 81-2) or more controversial issues such as the development of the character of Arwen in the film at the expense of Frodo (p. 108-9). This indicates that Ang expects her readers to be familiar with the works to which she refers. On the other hand, her discussion of hobbits (p. 58-60) seems to be addressed to a readership who lacks familiarity with these creatures. This uncertainty about how to pitch her comments results in quite a number of oddities. For instance, she explains the term “bildungsroman” in a manner that suggests her readers are wholly unfamiliar with literary terminology (as one might suppose most adolescent readers to be) (p. 50-1), but her discussion of canonicity (p. 59-60) contains no such helpful remarks. This uncertainty of voice is undoubtedly the work’s greatest flaw. Fortunately, the other writers in the series are more consistent in their address, yet no less enthusiastic about the literature they discuss.Nicholas Tucker’s Inside the World of Philip Pullman: Darkness Visible
Darkness Visible has three basic goals which do not quite map onto the formal chapter divisions. The first is to provide an author biography, the second a summary and commentary on each of Pullman’s works and finally a discussion of sources of influence. The chapter divisions divide the information between the biography, the Sally Lockhart novels, other stories and His Dark Materials. This division is doubtless easier for novice critics to comprehend.
The author biography unsurprisingly focuses on aspects of Pullman’s life which find parallels in his novels. Some of these parallels are distinctly unhelpful in encouraging readers to recognise the fictionality of the work. For instance, Tucker argues that Mrs Coulter’s ambiguity is a reflection of Pullman’s feeling towards his mother after she returned to work, leaving her young sons with their grandparents. Encouraging young readers to view this magnificently complex character as some kind of therapeutic outpouring, rather than a further element in one of the main themes of His Dark Materials, namely the impossibility of distinguishing between good and evil, is unnecessarily reductionist. On the other hand, learning that Lyra’s ability to climb about on the college roofs in Oxford was based on Pullman’s student experiences adds not only credibility to this scene, but also to a greater sense of the playfulness of the author.
As literary critic and former primary school teacher, the information I most valued in the biography section was the discussion of Pullman’s frustration with his Oxford University education and learning that he received only a third class degree. Tucker concludes that:
Pullman’s often passionate engagement with educational issues since, and in particular his concern with what he sees as the dull and unimaginative ways of teaching the young now enshrined in the National Curriculum, could well date back to this time in his life. Excellent teaching at school which was then replaced by a university system where very little tuition of real value happened at all was enough to make anyone angry. (Tucker 2003: 15)
This discussion shed light on Pullman’s attitudes towards his young readers, particularly his respect for the intelligence of adolescent readers of works such as The Amber Spyglass. One of Pullman’s greatest achievements is his ability to communicate with children and adolescents about issues that are usually deemed too adult. Like Pullman, Tucker has also found a voice in which to address less experienced readers which is neither condescending nor simplistic. This is particularly evident in the section which discusses various influences, but can also be seen in his willingness to criticise the British education system.
After the author biography, Darkness Visible continues with a summary of each of Pullman’s fictional texts interspersed with helpful comments which enable the child critic to see connections between Pullman’s works and older works of literature. Parallels are drawn between Pullman’s Sally Lockhart novels and the plays of G. B: Shaw (p. 38), penny dreadfuls (40-41) as well as classic works of children’s literature such as Emil and the Detectives, Blyton’s detective series and C. S. Lewis. Although I understand Valerie Krips’ frustration on how limited some of these discussions are, for the intended reader of these works I think they offer an excellent introduction to the genre of the review, which provides young critics with a model of how to move beyond the book report which merely summarises the text and concludes “I like it because it is good.”
Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy is inevitably, and rightly, placed centre stage. After the summary, which is illustrated with an engraving for Paradise Lost by Gustav Doré, Tucker provides brief sections in the style of a student guide on topics such as Parallel Worlds, What is Dust? and Daemons. Again, in addition to providing useful information for young critics, these serve as models on how to form a discussion about works of fiction.
The final section, the discussion of influences, reveals Tucker at his best. In unpretentious, highly readable prose, Tucker summarises and explains Pullman’s allusions to Milton, Blake, von Kleist and C. S. Lewis. von Kleist’s essay is included in an appendix after a helpful bibliography of works which an adolescent could understand. Tucker, like Pullman, treats his readers respectfully and without condescension. He manages to make complex texts and ideas comprehensible, but he also provides quotations, illustrations and comments which will encourage the reader to go back to the original sources.
Geoff Fox’s Dear Mr Morpingo: Inside the World of Michael Morpurgo
Although now officially retired from his work in teacher education, Geoff Fox still spends a good deal of time in schools talking to children and telling them stories. This familiarity with talking to children about stories as well as telling stories results in an engaging style of writing which uncompromisingly addresses readers of the same age and reading ability as Morpurgo’s novels. Given that readers of Morpurgo’s works are considerably younger than those who read Pullman or Tolkien, this is an impressive feat.
The author biography reveals Fox at his best as a storyteller in his own right. Opening with the exciting story of “how nothing nearly happened” (Morpurgo’s near-death encounter whilst still in a pram), Fox draws his readers into the story of Morpurgo’s life. Interesting details about life in post-war Britain, including explanations of rationing, the dangers and fun of playing in bomb-sites and single-sex boarding schools, are woven into Morpurgo’s personal history making both the time period and the man seem more interesting. Delicate topics, such as parental divorce and Morpurgo’s complex relationship with his stepfather, are handled with a sensitivity that respects both the reader and those written about.
The two chapters following the author biography provide an insight into how a professional writer works. One of Fox’s motivations for producing this book was to help children and their teachers understand the writing process. The first of these two chapters answers the question “where do you get your ideas from?” by showing how Morpurgo developed his ideas for some of his better known works. The discussions of Morpurgo’s novels provide young readers with insights into both the composition process and the works themselves. Unlike Tucker, Fox does not provide plot summaries, but rather presents just enough information for readers to get the point without spoiling the fun of reading the original works themselves. The other chapter is concerned with the more formal aspects of a narrative such as focalisation, characterisation and plot tempo. Again, these points are couched in terms that will make sense to young readers, and are liberally illustrated with examples from Morpurgo’s writing. As a result, the work is likely to prove an asset to teachers wondering how to encourage their pupils’ writing skills.
Dear Mr Morpingo concludes with a brief overview of various other aspects of Morpurgo’s career (e.g. his work as children’s laureate and a discussion of films and plays based on his works) and a short story by Morpurgo which was not been published before. Interesting as these sections are, the focus of work is clearly on helping young readers to appreciate the craft of storytelling in general and the works of Michael Morpurgo in particular. This didactic aim is realised in an appealing way that should strike a chord with its intended readers.
As works of literary criticism, the books in this series are unlikely to prove useful to those members of the IRSCL who are solely concerned with literary topics. The many qualities of the author biographies, useful summaries in Darkness Visible and glossary in The Master of the Rings notwithstanding, purely academic scholars of children’s literature are likely to find these books little more than useful aide memoires. For their intended readers - youngsters who have enjoyed reading something by Tolkien, Pullman or Morpurgo and who want to know more - the Inside the World series provides an excellent starting point. One minor criticism I have of Fox’s and Tucker’s books, however, is that they assume readers are familiar with the British education system, and this makes the works slightly less accessible to readers from other countries. Ang, who teaches at the University of Singapore, is more international, but, as I say, less consistent in her address.
I sincerely hope that IRSCL members working in teacher training establishments or, like myself, teaching students who are likely to become teachers will draw their students’ attention to these materials. Works like those reviewed above enable young readers to become better, more fully informed, critical readers of fiction. At the very least, they are educating the future generation of literary scholars. At best, they may go some way towards keeping the focus on children in children’s literature.
References
Krips, Valerie 2005. Inside the World of Philip Pullman: Darkness Visible by Nicholas Tucker. irscl.ac.uk
Reviewed by Lydia Kokkola, Turku University & Åbo Akademi University, Finland.
Millicent Lenz and Carole Scott (eds), His Dark Materials Illuminated: Critical Essays on Philip Pullman’s Trilogy (Detroit: Wayne State UP)
ISBN 0-8143-3207-2 pp. 242
For the most part this collection of essays on Philip Pullman’s HDM (= His Dark Materials) lives up to the very high praise given in the blurbs. Unlike some recent collections of essays on the Harry Potter books, the standard of this collection tends to be consistently high (some of the Harry Potter essays are, to be fair, excellent). This book, which was brought to completion by Carole Scott, builds on the work of the late Millicent Lenz, originally begun in her chapter on Pullman in the book she co-wrote with Peter Hunt, Alternative Worlds in Fantasy Fiction (Continuum, 2001). Pullman’s work has started so many lines of enquiry (literary-historical, ethical, scientific, metaphysical and theological, to name but a few) that it is arguably beyond the scope of any single scholar to deal with them all. The value of this collection is that scholars with a variety of specialisms (though they seem mostly to work in English departments) have come together to address some of the ‘big’ issues which are raised by HDM, and which, as Pullman has suggested, can only be adequately dealt with these days in children’s books. Whatever your particular take on the complex phenomenon of HDM (and indeed of “Philip Pullman”), you will almost certainly find something relevant, engaging and insightful in this collection.
Millicent Lenz’s introduction is ambitious, existentially engaging and even moving in its claims. She asserts that in HDM Pullman has given readers “a myth about a transformation of consciousness” (4) that is in a way analogous to Wagner’s Ring cycle. The Wagner analogy may not please everyone, but it does give a sense of the enormous power and scope of a vision that asks to be set alongside (mutatis mutandis) Milton and Blake. We are dealing here with a truly grand narrative – which of course raises the complex issue of Pullman’s relation to postmodernism (an issue which Anne-Marie Bird’s essay helpfully addresses); and with an imperative that is existential: “human beings must [and not “might”, as Lenz had previously written] evolve towards a higher level of consciousness” (6).
The essays have been (fairly roughly) divided into three sections, with helpful introductions; perhaps this reflects the obsession with the number three that Lisa Hopkins claims to find in Pullman’s work.
The first section (“Reading Fantasy, Figuring Human Nature”) is perhaps more heterogeneous than the other sections. Along with Hopkins’s piece “Dyads or Triads? HDM and the Structure of the Human”, it contains: an essay by Maude Hines which uses ideas from Althusser, Bourdieu and Pêcheux to discuss the role of ideology within Pullman’s work (though it doesn’t really seem to address – in the way that work on “the Harry Potter phenomenon” perhaps has to address – the issue of the ideological positioning of Pullman’s work, and of his readers); a piece by Margaret Mackey on the affective element in the experience of reading (I’d like to know more about Gelernter – there are parenthetical page references, but no text in the bibliography to link them to); and a close reading of HDM by Lauren Shohet as dense and subtle as Kirjava’s fur, to use an analogy from The Amber Spyglass that Shohet herself refers to (26).
Probably Shohet’s essay (“Reading Dark Materials”) could have figured equally well in the second section, entitled “Intertextuality and Revamping Traditions”. This is a rather loosely linked group of essays held together by a broadly understood notion of intertextuality. At times there seems to be a slight blurring of focus in terms of the target audience, perhaps inevitably, given the breadth of readership at which this volume is presumably aimed. Sometimes the exposition is rather more descriptive than at other times, and there seems to be a slight uncertainty as to what the writer can take for granted in the reader. A certain fluctuation about what to expect from the reader can even be felt within the same essay, as for example when Burton Hatlen feels compelled not only to fill us in on who Dorothy Sayers and the Inklings were, but also to engage in an interpretation-history of Paradise Lost - relevantly and usefully, though a little more on Stanley Fish might have helped. For my money – doubtless unsurprisingly, given my job description and my fondness for George MacDonald – the most fascinating essay in this section (and perhaps the book as a whole) is Shelley King’s “‘Without Lyra we would understand neither the New nor the Old Testament’: Exegesis, Allegory, and Reading The Golden Compass”. Without claiming any conscious intention on Pullman’s part, King wants to link Lyra’s name to the thirteenth century scholar Nicholas of Lyra, whose interpretation theory seems to fit uncannily well with the interpretation theory implicit in discussions of how to read the alethiometer. There are different levels of meaning accessible to different kinds of interpretation by different sorts of reader (“innocent” child readers versus “experienced” scholars). This applies of course to HDM as a whole, and, according to King, links Pullman to George MacDonald who, in both theory (“The Fantastic Imagination”) and practice, is foremost among those writers “who trust the ability of the child to interpret meaningfully texts beyond simple comprehension” (110).
The third section, entitled “Pullman and Theology, Pullman and Science Fiction” seems in fact to be more concerned with the former pairing. Even Andrew Leet’s essay on “Rediscovering Faith through Science Fiction” is actually more about theological issues.
Anne-Marie Bird’s essay ‘Circumventing the Grand Narrative: Dust as an Alternative Theological Vision in HDM ” seeks through a kind of Derridian reading of Dust to clarify Pullman’s relation to the postmodern scepticism about grand narratives. Pat Pinsent offers an intriguing overview of the similarities between Pullman’s (anti)theological position and feminist theology. I suspect that she may rather underplay the differences between those feminists who reject, and those who wish in some way to recuperate, “the Christian tradition” (I remember once witnessing an encounter between Daphne Hampson and Rosemary Ruether that was far from irenic). Pinsent’s conclusion is that Pullman is essentially a “kindred spirit”, if only he could quietly drop the “somewhat debatable” (209) “Republic of Heaven” and learn to “revalue the more profound spiritual insights that are latent already within religious and spiritual sources” (209). The latter phrase is so general (or “broad”) as to sidestep the crucial problem for any dissident theology, whether feminist or “radical”: what to say/do about “the Church”? Pullman may wish to distance himself from historical Gnosticism on account of its “Platonist” (actually “Manichaean”) tendencies to a matter/spirit dualism; the real problem, however, is one of authority, and on that score Pullman shows himself to be clearly Gnostic by seeking such salvation as he can find extra ecclesiam. Mary Harris Russell in “Pullman’s Eve Variations”, the final essay in the collection, seems to me to put the matter correctly when she writes:
Certainly Blake and the German Romantics whom Pullman knows so well were familiar with these [Gnostic] traditions. … Pullman fits comfortably into the position of a Gnostic outsider, interrogating authority, and he has chosen to retell a myth where this outsider point of view will make for the most dramatic reversals (212).
Any retelling of the myth of the Fall, which reverses the traditional positioning of Eve, will have “larger ideological consequences”, Russell claims. After an excursus through non-canonical writings from early Christian and Jewish traditions in order to illustrate how the original Eve figure was downgraded by the likes of Tertullian, Russell tries to show how these early Eve-figures (including, interestingly, Lilith) can be related to the Eve-figures in HDM - Marisa Coulter, Mary Malone and of course Lyra. These Eve variations culminate in a vision that is hard to contain within the confines of any ecclesiastical context, no matter how “broad”:
Lyra, the new Eve, is breaking through his [the Authority’s] boundaries. Freeing the dead, she breaks out of an enclosed territory instead of being expelled from one, as was the traditional Eve (220).
William Gray
Reader in Literary History and Hermeneutics Department of English
University of Chichester, UK
Sharron, L. McElmeel. Children’s authors and illustrators too good to miss: Biographical sketches and bibliographies. Westport: Libraries Unlimited, 2004.
ISBN 1-59158-027-7
Scholars, librarians, and educators will find Sharron McElmeel’s recent collection of author and illustrator biographies and sketches very useful. Sharron introduces readers to some of the new and upcoming literary giants whose work will enlighten readers young and old.
McElmeel notes that “learning about authors and illustrators helps students view book creators as real people” (p. xiii). As we share and read literature, we discover the magical effect that it has on our imagination. We become absorbed by the language, the imagery, and develop a pure respect for the author’s craft. After reading several works by an author, we close the book feeling as if we have found a new friend. We yearn to discover more information about their story and begin to research information about their background.
Integrating author studies within a balanced literacy classroom provides students with rich opportunities to make text-to-author connections. In addition, exploring the work of authors and illustrators encourages readers to examine the structural components of texts such as theme, symbolism, characterization, and artistic process. Author studies take readers on a literary journey as they deepen their understanding and appreciation of the author’s work. Introducing readers to emerging and well known authors not only creates a space to engage with multiple forms of literature, but also invites readers to respond in various ways. Integrating information about the author and illustrator may heighten and intensify the literary experience for students.
Sharron McElmeel’s well researched collection featuring information about 45 authors and illustrators is organized alphabetically. Each profile includes a photograph and background information. In addition, each sketch provides invaluable information to spark reader’s interest and to prompt further inquiry. The authors/illustrators noted in this collection include Laurie Halse Anderson, Jane Kurtz, Will Hobbs, Tedd Arnold, Margariet Ruurs, Cynthia Leitich Smith, David Shannon and MORE!!! McElmeel’s text presents a snapshot to guide readers to develop a sense of curiosity about the author, to learn more about the attributes of authorship, and to develop a deep appreciation for literature.
Educators and scholars will find great utility in the text to support both pedagogical and literary pursuits. In addition to browsing this excellent collection, literary enthusiasts will also want to visit Sharron’s web sit at .
Mary Napoli, Assistant Professor, Penn State Harrisburg
IRSCL Publications (proceedings of biennial congresses)
Aspects and issues in the history of children’s literature. Edited by Maria Nikolajeva. Westport (CT) / London: Greenwood Press, 1995. 224 p. ISBN 0-313-29614-6. $ 62.95.
Reflections of Change; Children’s Literature since 1945. Edited by Sandra L. Beckett. Westport (CT) / London: Greenwood Press, 1997. 216 p. ISBN 0-313-30145-X. $ 60.00.
The Presence of the Past in Children’s Literature. Edited by Ann Lawson Lucas. Westport (CT) / London: Praeger Publishers, 2003. 264 p. ISBN 0-313-32483-2. $ 63.95.
Children’s Literature and the Fin de Siècle. Edited by Roderick McGillis. Westport (CT)/ London: Praeger Publishers, 2003. 232 p. ISBN 0-313-32120-5. $ 59.95.
Change and Renewal in Children’s Literature. Edited by Thomas van der Walt, assisted by Félicité Fairer-Wessels and Judith Inggs. Westport (CT) / London: Praeger Publishers, 2004. 256 p. ISBN 0-275-98185-1. $ 64.95.
Books may be ordered from bookshops or from Greenwood Press:
Children’s Literature Global and Local: Social and Aesthetic Perspectives edited by Emer O’Sullivan, Kimberley Reynolds and Rolf Romøren (Oslo: Novus Press, 2005). The volume contains 20 essays by the following contributors: Clare Bradford, Carole Carpenter, Valerie Coghlan, Mieke K.T. Desmet, Hans-Heino Ewers, Victoria Flanagan, Margot Hillel, Elwyn Jenkins, Lindsay Myers, Chie Mizuma, Sharyn Pearce, Jana Pohl, Beverley Naidoo, Mavis Reimer, Martina Seifert, Anna Karlskov Skyggebjerg, Margarita Slavova, Asfrid Svensen, Mary Shine Thompson, Elise Seip Tønnessen, Thomas van der Walt, Marina Warner, and Boel Westin, with an Introduction by the editors.
An order form is available on the website or from
NOVUS PRESS, E-mail: novus@novus.no HERMAN FOSS GATE 19, Telefax: +47 2271 8107 NO-0171 OSLO, NORWAY
Price 30 Euros
Here follow the necessary forms for nominating candidates to stand as President, for the board, and to deputise another member to cast a proxy vote on your behalf. Forms, which can also be found on the web site, should be sent to Pam Knights, Department of English Studies, University of Durham, Hallgarth House, 77 Hallgarth Street, Durham City DH1 3AY, UK or Pam.Knights@durham.ac.uk
Nomination form for election of President
I, (print name)_____________________________________________________
am a member of the International Research Society for Children's Literature, and I nominate (print name)
____________________________________________________________________
as a candidate for election as President of the IRSCL.
Signature of
Nominator: _______________________________________ Date __________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
I (insert name of nominee) ____________________________________________
am a financial member of the International Research Society for Children's Literature, and I accept the nomination.
Signature of
Nominee: _______________________________________ Date __________
Nomination form for election of Board member
I, (print name)_____________________________________________________
am a member of the International Research Society for Children's Literature, and I nominate (print name)
____________________________________________________________________
as a candidate for election as a Board member of the IRSCL.
Signature of
Nominator: _______________________________________ Date __________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
I (insert name of nominee) ____________________________________________
am a financial member of the International Research Society for Children's Literature, and I accept the nomination.
Signature of
Nominee: _______________________________________ Date __________
Authorisation for Proxy voting (2)
I (member’s name)____________________________________________________
Signature ____________________________________________________________
of (member’s address) ___________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
am a member in good standing of the International Research Society for Children's Literature, and I authorise
(Name of member you are authorising) _______________________________________________
Signature (of authorised member) ___________________________________________________
to cast a proxy vote for me at the General Membership Meeting in Kyoto, August 2007.
Contact the board
President: Kimberley Reynolds Kim.Reynolds@ncl.ac.uk
Vice-President: Clare Bradford clarex@deakin.edu.au
Treasurer and Membership Secretary: Mavis Reimer: m.reimer@uwinnipeg.ac
Secretary: Pam Knights: Pam.Knights@durham.ac.uk and Katrien Vloeberghs: katrien.vloeberghs@ua.ac.be
Board members:
Ariko Kawabata (responsible for 2007 congress): ariko@cat.email.ne.jp
Dan Hade: ddh2@psu.edu
CALL FOR PAPERS
International Research Society for Children's Literature 18th Biennial Congress
August 25-29 2007 in Kyoto, Japan
POWER AND CHILDREN'S LITERATURE: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
Children?fs literature has the power to help child readers to create diverse and free images of themselves, and to recognize the process of growing up and forming their identities. It can also give them consolation and vital energy. On the other hand, children?fs literature has the aspect of serving state propaganda, imposing the social and moral codes of the dominant culture on child readers, and depriving them of their imaginative power, sensitivity and ability to think for themselves. Bearing these positive and negative aspects in mind, we will examine the power of children?fs literature in the past and the present, and explore the possibility of children?fs literature in the future.
Proposals are invited for papers, panels and posters exploring the 2007 IRSCL conference theme, Power and Children's Literature: Past, Present and Future. Aspects of the theme on which the conference will focus include: representations of power in children's literature, production and power in children's literature, visual images and power in children's literature, and theories of power and children's literature.
Strand A: Representations of Power in Children's Literature
1. Gendered power: patriarchy and children's books; feminisms and children's literature; sexuality and power relations.
2. Subjectivity and power: identity-formation; the politics of play; queering the child subject; children and sociality; power relations in families.
3. Racialised and nationalized power: race relations, postcolonialism, neo-colonialism; whiteness and power; children's literature and national ideologies; children's books as propaganda; political dissent in children's books.
4. Class and power: social class; class distinctions; reader positioning and class; children's literature as a middle-class activity; economics and children's literature; work in children's books.
5. Utopian and dystopian tropes: imagined futures; new political and cultural formations; the posthuman; alternative societies; changing power relations and children's books; new technologies and power; directions in national literatures.
6. World politics and power: eco-criticism and children's books; nature, culture and power; world power blocs; terrorism and anti-terrorism; refugee narratives; global media and power; the 'war on terrorism' and children's literature; global politics and children's books.
Strand B: Production and Power in Children's Literature
1. Power in writing and publishing: self-censorship by authors and illustrators; publishers and the state; censorship and its operations; dissemination of books.
2. Institutions and power: schools, library systems, publishers, booksellers; the dynamics of choice; children and their reading; books as cultural capital.
3. Child readers and power: children?fs access to books; children as consumers; reader positioning and power.
4. Language and power: the hegemony of English; power and translation, cultural inflection and transgression; standard and non-standard languages and power; dialects and minority languages; status, power and language.
Strand C: Visual Images and Power in Children's Literature
1. Power in picture books and illustrated books: relationships between gender and power; power and interpersonal relations; the power of play; picture books and cultural discourses.
2. Comics (including manga and graphic novels) and popular culture: historical perspectives; comics and subversion; hybridity, comics and picture books; ideologies and comics; politics and comics; comics and social class.
3. The power of performance: children as performers; the history of childhood on stage, film and television; adapting and representing childhood in film/TV/stage; bodies and performance.
4. Subcultures and power: processes, ideas and ideologies in animations; childhood as represented in animations; child-adult dynamics in animations; cultural translation in animation and anime.
5. The power of video games: online communities at play; games, gender and race; power-politics and video games; video games in children's books; films and video games; video games as consumer products.
6. The power of photography: photographers and power; photographs in children's texts; photography and empire in children's books; photographic manipulation; identities and child subjects in photographs; documenting difference in photographs.
Strand D: Theories of Power and Children's Literature
1. Psychoanalytic theories and power: displacement theory; repression and children's books.
2. Theories of mass media and children's literature: sociologies of reception; power, resistance and child audiences; popular texts and power.
3. Theories of discourse and power: discourse analysis; dominant discourses in children's books; narratives and power.
4. Theories of canon-formation and children's books: how canons form; relations between canons and cultural/political power; institutions and canon-formation; national and international prizes and the canon.
[pic]NOTE [pic]
All contributions will be made in English and should be given in person.
Proposals for papers and posters should be approximately 300 words in length. They should indicate the title of the contribution, the primary texts under consideration, a description of the paper content and the arguments to be developed.
Proposals for panels should include a list of all presenters, and an approximately 500 words outline of the form which the panel will take.
Proposals must adhere to the theme of the congress and should indicate under which strand of the theme they should be considered. Work presented must be new which means it should not previously have been presented or published in public in any form.
20 minutes will be allocated for each paper, and up to 2 hours for each panel presentation. In the case of panels, presentations will not exceed 20 minutes and time must be allocated for discussion.
For poster presentations each author will be given a space of 120 cm by 90 cm and present their work on posters. This mode of presentation will offer the presenters the opportunity to have close conversations with those who attend the session, receiving comments and discussing the work.
Please note that the only visual aid available is Powerpoint.
The closing date for proposals is January 31 2007 (Wed)
(All proposals will be reviewed before acceptance. Notification of acceptance or otherwise will be given by April 30 2007.)
Criteria for acceptance includes: Adherence to congress theme, Originality of research, Clarity of description
|Proposals should be written on the form which can be downloaded from here: |
|Click here for form. |
This should be submitted electronically in Word format to:
Ms. Akiko Yamazaki, Email: yamaz@sit.ac.jp
[pic]
Inquiry : IRSCL Japan Committee irscl2007_kyoto@hotmail.co.jp
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