A critical approach to functioning triple literary theories in the literature of children and adolescents (original) (raw)
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Literature for children offers an ongoing challenge for creators, publishers, readers (of whatever age), educators, and researchers. Its functioning is inseparably connected with the historically changing system of social expectations towards children and childhood. The instability of these postulates and concepts remains a source of numerous controversies. It is these polemics and inconsistencies that we wish to make the subject of our conference. Controversy seems to be the essence of literature for children, as reflected in its perception, for example, as a projection of the fantasies, fears, and desires of adults (Rose 1984), a form of child oppression and colonization of childhood (Nodelman 1992), an element of the aetonormative world ruled by adults (Nikolajeva 2010), or as a part of the pedagogical project of childhood that attempts to control the future (Beauvais 2015). Simultaneously, the importance of children's literature as a bridge between childhood and adulthood (Waller 2019, Wróblewski 2019) or as a platform for the development of symmetrical relations between child and adult (e.g. Gubar 2016, Joosen 2018, Chawar et al. 2018) is being increasingly emphasized. These and other postulates remain open and worthy of further reflection. The research on children's literature itself also invites reflective interest: what are its premises, goals, and expectations? This conference aims to encourage joint identification and analysis of controversial decisions, practices, and attitudes concerning the cultural, social, and political significance of children's literature, its place in the public, publishing, and academic spaces, as well as its involvement in the exploration of and dealing with contemporary problems. With what challenges of the modern world does it confront children and adults? We invite you to submit papers on controversial issues related to children's literature in terms of creativity, reception, publishing, and research: THE CREATIVE DIMENSION-controversial authors of children's literature;-controversial topics as a reflection of historically changing social norms and concepts of children's literature;-cross-over literature and the aestheticization of children's literature;-children's literature authored by children (also in the context of new media);-controversial choices and attitudes of translators of children's literature;-the phenomenon of polemical translation and children's literature;
Audience in Children's Literature
English Literature and Linguistics, 2013
In 1991 Barbara Wall published her highly influential analysis of audience in children’s literature. By applying the narrative concept of implied reader to works in children’s literature she identified a brief typology for the types of audience implied by different texts. Wall describes three main audience types; single audience, dual audience, and double audience. A text where the implied reader is consistently a child can be said to have a single audience; a text where the implied reader is simultaneously both child and adult can be said to have a dual audience; and a text where the implied reader shifts between child and adult can be said to have a double audience. These categories of audience have proved very useful in the analysis of children’s literature, so much so that they now are commonly and conventionally used throughout the enormous breadth and variety of children’s literature study. They have become so very common that researchers these days rarely even feel the need to cite Wall as a source, and simply use the terms ‘single’, ‘dual’ or ‘double’ audience; correctly assuming that readers will be familiar with the terms. This enormous usage and acceptance of the terms is an indication of their value in literary analysis, but it also creates problems. The very power and popularity of these concepts leads to the impression that they are complete, true, and adequate, and this in turn can lead to an uncritical acceptance of the terms. As with any discipline, in children’s literature we use a common set of terms to allow us to convey complex ideas with both economy and delicacy. However, as Wittgenstein famously made clear, the utility of technical terms carries a price; that of accepting the pre-suppositions upon which the terms are based (Philosophical Investigations 48-52). Wall’s typology, on the surface, appears very clear, almost self-evident, and this tends to obscure the underlying presuppositions. However, when examined, the pre-suppositions become clear, and as they do so, it also becomes clear that they exhibit serious discontinuities with other areas of children’s literature theory. The pre-suppositions that give the strongest cause for concern are those connected with the general concepts of ‘child’, ‘adult’, and the narrative concepts of ‘implied reader’ and ‘real reader’. The aim of this paper is to examine these pre-suppositions and to show how they stand in relation to other theory of children’s literature.
Children's Literature Comes of Age
Children's Literature Comes of Age, 2015
IT IS NO longer possible for one person to cover the entire range of children's literature. The global nature of culture today, the availability of literature from Japan, China, the Middle East, Africa, and even the English translations of the stories told by the Australian aboriginal people or the First Nations peoples of Canada and the Russian transcriptions of tundra peoples, discourage any claim to an exhaustive review. Above all, the domination of English in publishing and on the Internet contributes to a "uniformization" of the imagination, particularly in children's culture, through the mass production of films and the press. This new international order increases the responsibility of the critics and of any statement intended to define the legitimacy or distinctive signs of chaotic production; the requirements of theoretical clarity must not lead us to overlook the possible impact and consequences of every formal statement. This is why Maria Nikolajeva's attempt is provocative and stimulating for an examination of the cultural and-to a lesser degree-of the political values implicitly at stake in the field of children's literature and criticism. In Children s Literature Comes of Age: Toward a New Aesthetic, which reflects the breadth of her culture, the finesse of her analysis, and a carefully argued thesis, she does not imagine that she can cover the entire range of contemporary children's literature; on the contrary, she modestly points out in her conclusion that "everything that has been said obviously refers to a very small portion of modern children's books, even a very tiny part of what is normally classified as quality literature" (207). However, the method she uses, the books she chooses to study, and her general approach, all reveal ARIEL:
The Child's Voice in Children's Literature
1996
The existence of children's literature as a genre has, to a large extent, depended on its function as a force of social manipulation, rather than on any concern with literary value. The need to consider children's literature in the light of developments in literary theory that emphasize the importance of the semiotics of the text, and in particular, the way in which language controls the reader's response, can bring to light the processes in the literature of childhood that form the adult reader. However, while the children's literature specialist is investigating the workings of the text from a viewpoint that embraces developments in literary theory, the theorist almost completely ignores the texts of childhood. This study aims to propose methods which allow children's voices to be heard in a nondirected, open way. This research is shaped by seven case studies framed by three main areas of context. The first is an investigation of modern literary theory and its relationship to the books of childhood. The second is the context within which the texts are delivered to children. The third is the notion of reading history. Each case study is underpinned by the individual child's reading history, derived from interviews with parents, children and teachers. While looking for a way to give children a voice in the adult dominated world of children's fiction, this researcher found it to be in the nature of the text itself. (Contains 23 references.)
The Basic Concept of Children Literature
2017
Children's literature is defined as literature exclusively about children. Children's literature refers mainly to stories, poetry, rhymes, folk tales, drama, exclusively created for children such as infants, toddlers and the young people as target audience. Literature for children is different from literature for adults in degree but not in kind. Because children’s understanding is more limited, the expression of ideas for children in literature must be simpler, both in language and form. Abstrak Sastra anak adalah bentuk karya sastra yang khusus diciptakan untuk konsumsi anak-anak.Bentuk-bentuknya antara lain berupa cerita, puisi, cerita rakyat dan drama yang secara khusus diciptakan untuk anak-anak, balita dan remaja sebagai target audiencenya.Bentuk sastra anak pada dasarnya sama saja dengan sastra dewasa, hanya saja keduanya berbeda dari segi tingkatan dan muatannya.Hal ini disebabkan karena tingkat pemikiran anak-anak masih terbatas dibandingkan or...
THE BASIC CONCEPT OF CHILDREN LITERATURE (Konsep Dasar Sastra Anak
Abstrak Sastra anak adalah bentuk karya sastra yang khusus diciptakan untuk konsumsi anak-anak.Bentuk-bentuknya antara lain berupa cerita, puisi, cerita rakyat dan drama yang secara khusus diciptakan untuk anak-anak, balita dan remaja sebagai target audiencenya.Bentuk sastra anak pada dasarnya sama saja dengan sastra dewasa, hanya saja keduanya berbeda dari segi tingkatan dan muatannya.Hal ini disebabkan karena tingkat pemikiran anak-anak masih terbatas dibandingkan orang dewasa.Oleh karena itu, pengungkapan ide pada sastra anak haruslah lebih sederhana, baik dalam bentuk dan bahasa. ` Abstract Children's literature is defined as literature exclusively about children. Children's literature refers mainly to stories, poetry, rhymes, folk tales, drama, exclusively created for children such as infants, toddlers and the young people as target audience. Literature for children is different from literature for adults in degree but not in kind. Because children's understanding is more limited, the expression of ideas for children in literature must be simpler, both in language and form.