At the Back of the North Wind (week 2)

At the Back of the North Wind is next week's text and it's available on Gutenberg for free (so no excuses!) 

If you want to have a read ahead, the George Macdonald Society website is a good place to start. There are a few of his essays on here, note, in particular, The Fantastic Imagination (here: http://www.george-macdonald.com/etexts/nonfiction/fantastic_imagination.html ) which will be discussed next week.
Fantastic Literature: A Critical Reader by David Sandner is also very good and also discusses other key texts. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-AR9FEgly9wC&pg=PA64&lpg=PA64&dq=george+Macdonald+fantastic+imagination&source=bl&ots=AcJwxoe-NT&sig=Ep9oy7x-jbt_X4C85RgkLClfQ2g&hl=en&sa=X&ei=NbUSUd-TGZOS0QXgioGABg&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=george%20Macdonald%20fantastic%20imagination&f=false 
Also:
Webb, Jean (ed.) "A noble unrest": Contemporary Essays on the Work of George MacDonald. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Pub, 2007
and
Roderick McGillis is another scholar who has written extensively on Macdonald.

If you have some spare reading time then cosy up with The King of the Golden River, it can be found here: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/701

Seminar: 6th Feb '13

Seminar : 6th February 2013

the (im)possibility of children's fiction

who writes it?
why do they write it?
who is it for?
what is a child?
what kind of child reader does it assume?
are there imbalances in power, in knowledge, in experience, in agency?
what are the 'goals' of children's literature?
how can it link with theory?
what mechanisms can you recognise in children's literature?

 

Rose, Jacqueline. The case of Peter Pan, or, The impossibility of children's fiction. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1984.

 

 

 

Coats, Karen. Looking Glasses and Neverlands: Lacan, Desire, and Subjectivity in Children's Literatue. University of Iowa Press, 2004.

 

Kutzer, M. Daphn. Empire's children: empire and imperialism in classic British children's books. Vol. 2005. Routledge, 2000.

 

Nodelman, Perry. The hidden adult: defining children's literature. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008.

 

O'Sullivan, Emer. Comparative children's literature. Routledge, 2005.

 

Reynolds, Kimberley. Girls only?: gender and popular children's fiction in Britain, 1880-1910. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1990.

 

Reynolds, Kimberley. "Radical Children's Literature: Future Visions And Aesthetic Transformations In Juvenile Fiction Author: Kimberley Reynold." (2007): 248.

 

Stephens, John. Language and ideology in children's fiction. Addison-Wesley Longman Ltd, 1992.

 

Trites, Roberta S. Disturbing the universe: Power and repression in adolescent literature. University of Iowa Press, 2000.

 

McCallum, Robyn. Ideologies of identity in adolescent fiction: The dialogic construction of subjectivity. Vol. 1094. Routledge, 1999.

 

Researching children's literature

Journals

One of the easiest ways to find literature on the text you're looking at is to search within the online pages of academic journals rather than through Summon. Two of my favourites are underneath. If you struggle to get an article please ask me (Laura), I may be able to get it for you or I may already have it electronically! My intention is to post a list of references for each text on here each week. It won't be exhaustive, I will just add articles I have come across in the past or know by experience or repute to be of good quality and applicable to the assignments.

Tip: review articles in the field of children's literature can be more useful than in other disciplines!

The Lion and the Unicorn, The John Hopkins University Press
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/lion_and_the_unicorn/

Children's Literature, The John Hopkins University Press
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/chl/

Blogs

Maria Nikolajeva - Confessions of a Displaced Hedgehog
http://nikolajeva.blogspot.co.uk/

Philip Nel - Nine Kinds of Pie
http://www.philnel.com/

“Radical Children’s Literature Now!” (Francelia Butler Lecture, ChLA 2011)

In 2011, Jean and I both presented at the Children's Literature Association (ChLA) Conference, "Revolt, Rebellion, Protest: Change and Insurrection in Children’s Literature," held at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia.

Julia Mickenberg and Philip Nel, co-editors of the anthology Tales for Little Rebels: A Collection of Radical Children's Literature, delivered the Francelia Butler Lecture there which was recorded and available for you to watch (it is just over an hour long). It is interesting, funny and very informative and reviews a wide range of literature on the theme: “Radical Children’s Literature Now!” It gives you the chance to see the kind of lectures we hear at academic conferences and is a great introduction to studying children's literature.

The bibliography of the books they discuss is also available, here: http://www.philnel.com/2011/06/25/rcln/

Enjoy!



This is a link to the related article:
Julia L. Mickenberg and Philip Nel, “Radical Children’s Literature Now!” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 36.4 (Winter 2011): 445-473 <http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/childrens_literature_association_quarterly/summary/

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