Thresholds and reconnections: the creation of the child in comparative children’s literature

children"s literature;comparative literature;french;english;fictional child;French

Roy, Julie MartinePandian, Anand ;

Johns Hopkins University

关键词: children";    s literature;    comparative literature;    french;    english;    fictional child;    French;   

Others  :  https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/bitstream/handle/1774.2/60567/ROY-DISSERTATION-2015.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=n

瑞士|英语

来源: JOHNS HOPKINS DSpace Repository

【 摘 要 】

This dissertation follows the history of children’s literature (of the French and English languages) to draw a portrait of the psychological and educational repercussions it has on the audience it mobilizes. The assumption held that fiction created by adults for children gives a mirror image of – or an insight on – life may not obtain for children’s literature. The genre abounds with paradoxes – written by outsiders for beings that are often depicted as separate or other, encouraging children to live their childhood fully while teaching them the means to outgrow it, aiming to be both representative and generative, etc. – that raise the question of the genesis of the fictional child and its use. If childhood itself is a fiction, can the narrative analogies offered by the young protagonists be taken as serious tools to widen our knowledge of the child?With the support of interviews from authors and an inquiry conducted with editors of the genre, this dissertation reflects on children’s literature and questions the validity of its dualistic or simplifying nature to not only confront what being a child entails, but also what it means to be an adult.Under the direction of Dr. Jacques Neefs, Department of German and Romance Languages and Literatures, and Dr. Anand Pandian, Department of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University.