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FINAL Current Developments at the Intersection of British Children ONLINE VERSION
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, pp. 97-101, p. 98. See also Rose, The Case of Peter Pan, 1984. 211 infers that good books must appeal to a universal audience, not one specific group. 20 According to her, this inherent universality ensures that readers of all ages read and reread children’s literature. In reaction to the permeability of children’s literature, literature for adults should be just as permeable, i.e. be read and reread by children, too. However, this represents the weak point of Mortimer’s thesis, as topics for adults are not always to the taste of children or written in a style that children enjoy. Also, adults can think back to their childhood, their preferences and interests at the time, whereas children cannot possibly think and feel the same yet as the mature adults that they will be one day. By saying that as an adult, a reader can invest more into a story and therefore profit more from it, 21 C.S. Lewis at the same time implies that children lack this ability. Then again he defends the basic concept of allalderslitteratur by claiming that no reader should obey to arbitrary, set age groups. 22 In Reflections of Change, Griswold observes and comments on the current development of the blurring of the notion of childhood and a simultaneous interest of adults in books for children. 23 The author discovers that for adults there is a trend away from mere purchaser and reader to children towards deliberately acquiring books for children for personal use. 24 According to Griswold, a simultaneous countermovement can be detected. Not only do adults take an increased interest in literature for children but also the children themselves appear more mature. 25 Whereas children thus emancipate themselves, adults make concessions towards children as far as tolerance, openness and involvement are concerned. Openly admitting their interest in fantasy is new to many an adult. It reveals that a reinterpretation and revaluation of the child-reader/ adult reader relationship is currently taking place. Griswold labels this phenomenon not as texts written for “children of all ages” but for “adults of all ages”. 26 This implies that children and their literature are upgraded in hierarchy whilst for adult readers a possible loss of high standards and demands, i.e. a depreciation of values, is kept at bay. In the long run, the author predicts a merger between 20 Mortimer in Egoff; Stubbs; Ashley (Eds.), Only Connect, p. 99. Also compare Anne de Vries. “Literature for All Ages? Emancipation and the Borders of Children’s Literature.” In: Sandra L. Beckett (Ed.) Reflections of Change , pp. 43-48. 21 Compare Mortimer in Egoff; Stubbs; Ashley (Eds.), Only Connect, p. 211. 22 C.S. Lewis. “On Three Ways of Writing for Children”. In: Egoff; Stubbs; Ashley (Eds.), Only Connect, pp. 207-220, p. 213. 23 Jerry Griswold. “The Disappearance of Children’s Literature (Or Children’s Literature as Nostalgia) in The United States in the Late Twentieth Century”. In: Sandra L. Beckett (Ed.) Reflections of Change, p. 38. 24 See Griswold in: Beckett (Ed.), Reflections of Change,p. 39. 25 This does not only apply to the child readers but also to the child heroes in the fantasy novels. 26 Griswold in: Beckett (Ed.), Reflections of Change, p. 39. 212 children’s and adult literature with its signs already visible today. 27 On account of this merger, an eventual disappearance of impermeable borders would enable the use of one text for all readers. The assumed revaluation of children’s literature and its reintegration back into adult literature therefore implies a quasi-return to pre-children’s literature times. Although Griswold awards a heightened quality to the current literature for children compared to their predecessors, 28 he does not draw the logical conclusion from his argumentation. Despite his words of praise for the development of children’s literature, he still does not accept children as equal partners for adults but denies children’s books the same intellectual quality as books for adults. This statement proves untenable, though. As this study attempts to show, the fantasy novels analysed reveal literary quality in their own right, proving that they can take on adult fantasy any time. 29 What is more, denying children’s literature the same status as adult literature whilst speaking of a merged story is contradiction in itself. If the story was really shared, none of the two parties involved would have to lower or heighten sights at all. Implying a loss of quality when an adult acquires and reads books for children whilst simultaneously attributing this quality to children’s books is incompatible. This current trend of children’s literature towards adult literature is also observed by Meek, Warlow and Barton in The Cool Web. 30 As early as in 1977, they discovered the development of a rapprochement between children’s and adult literature at the expense of children’s literature. Already then they found “adult-eration” worrying. 31 Their term is very appropriate for describing the ongoing development. Be it because of adult-eration or childification, age recommendations on the spine of the books or on the shelves in shops or libraries may become redundant. With the readers coming from so many different age groups, the customary categorisation in rigid age phases is invalidated. Particularly in fantasy the reader target group covers all ages. So instead of suggesting narrow age gaps like from 9-12 years of age, future spine labelling will need to adapt to the changing circumstances. It can either completely refrain from making any age suggestions or simply label them “for all ages”. 27 Ibd., p. 40. 28 Ibd., p. 54. 29 Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy for instance has got structural and psychological depth that quite a few fantasy novels for adults can only dream of. Poole calls it “the most densely intertextual work for children one is ever likely to read”. Richard Poole. “Philip Pullman and the Republic of Heaven”. In: The New Welsh Review 14.1, 53 (2001), pp. 15-22, p. 16. 30 Meek; Warlow; Barton (Eds.), The Cool Web, 1977. 31 Ibd., p. 334. 213 Dependent on the respective interpretation, this development away from meticulous categorisation towards a more general and liberal approach can either be interpreted as a retrograde step or as progress. It can be considered retrograde in that respect that there seems to be a return to the time when the separation into literature for children and literature for adults was yet unheard of. However, the levelling of the reader’s age can also be regarded as progress because it reveals that the parallel development of children’s and adult literature has come full circle. The open scissors between the two fields can close again, now wiser through the past experience of separate ways. Such a reunion takes into consideration the homogenisation of the readership in the course of globalisation. Whether precocious child, childish adult or some form of universal childult, again time will tell how exactly the new reading landscape, influenced by the trend allalderslitteratur, will develop. Its influence on and interaction with other genres will be a rewarding subject for future studies. One aspect that illustrates the trend of allalderslitteratur is the current design of fantasy book covers that addresses readers of all ages by means of extraordinary and creative design features. Amongst those range holograms, cut-outs in multi-layered covers like Hoffman’s first Stravaganza novel, embossed structures and ornaments, glitter or changing colours. The three-dimensional effect is very popular. For instance, embossed goose pimples (as in Stine’s Goosepimples series) create a more intense since tangible moment. With all those printing and designing techniques the literary landscape is livened up optically. Current publications attach great importance to universal appeal which they attain even without any illustrations inside the novels. Typical of the fantasy genre are geographical maps for orientation or embellished majuscules. Minimalist illustrations encourage the reader’s imagination. At the same time, applied to novels for children, this feature makes them resemble more books for adults than children. Yet, there are also a number of fantasy novels which do not forego illustrations. A prime example for such works are Stewart and Riddell’s The Edge Chronicles , which captivate with their quality and detail. Download 1.22 Mb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
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