Taking a fresh approach to the genre, the author examines children's literature as an art form. She notes that in reviewing the history of the genre, it is obvious that many of the classic works still read today have a high literary quality and that many contemporary works have advanced themes, discuss controversial subjects, use sophisticated narrative technique, and employ a multitude of semiotic codes. Opening chapters discuss world literature for children vs. national literature, as well as children's literature as a specific text type or as part of a canon. The discussion also outlines the principal difference between juvenile and adult literature. Following chapters discuss the evolution of children's literature in a semiotic vein; new structures within children's books; and Bakhtin's notion of the chronotope in investigating fantasy, traditional epics, adventure tales, girls' stories, modern novels, picture books, historical and retrospective fiction. Final chapters look at intertextual relations and the intersection of author, text, reader, and the problems of realism. Among the English-language writers examined Vivian Alcock, Lloyd Alexander, Natalie Babbitt, J.M. Barrie, Frank L. Baum, Lewis Carroll, Aidan Chambers, Susan Cooper, Robert Cormier, Penelope Farmer, Alan Garner, Russell Hoban, Diana Wynne Jones, Ursula K. Le Guin, Madeleine L'Engle, C.S. Lewis, L.M. Richler, Cythnia Voigt, Patricia Wrightson. Also discussed are works of internationally renowned Swedish authors, among them, Maria Gripe, Tove Jansson, and Astrid Lingren. An index is included.
Author
Maria Nikolajeva is an academic hailing from Russia, whose chief focus is on literary theory and the study of children's books. "I was born in Russia, and I moved to Sweden in 1981. Until 2008 I was a Professor of Comparative Literature at Stockholm University, Sweden. Now I am a Professor and Chair at the University of Cambridge, UK, which is about the highest an academic can get. ... Some highlights (of my career) include a Fulbright Grant at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; a Fellowship at the International Youth Library in Munich and H. W. Donner Visiting Chair at Åbo Akademi. In 2006 I was also made Honorary Professor at the University of Worcester, UK. In 1993-97 I was President of the International Research Society for Children's Literature. However, the crown of my success is the International Brothers Grimm Award 2005 from the Osaka Institute for Children's Literature, given for a life-time achievement in children's literature research. I have written and edited twenty scholarly books and about three hundred articles and reviews. I have also published two young adult novels, two picturebooks, a cookbook and a memoir. My current research project is on literary cognitivism. I have been a visiting lecturer all over the world: Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, Australia and South Africa. I am married to Staffan Skott, who is a Swedish writer and journalist. We have five children and ten grandchildren. My current hobbies are gardening, pottery, star gazing, papermaking and miniature making, and I also enjoy cooking and eating a good meal. Believe it or not, but I do read for pleasure sometimes. My favorite book is Winnie-the-Pooh. Recently, I have been re-reading classics, such as Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, Cervantes' Don Quixote and Melville's Moby-Dick."
- from Academia.edu
