Microsoft Word final-current Developments at the Intersection of British Children-online-version doc

Hans-Heino Ewers
may work on German literature for children and young adults, yet 
– due to their universality - his findings and theories can also be applied to British children’s 
literature. Not only does his introduction to children’s literature, Literatur für Kinder und 
Jugendliche: Eine Einführung
,
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thoroughly explain the many parameters of the genre like 
definitions, mechanisms, characteristics and subject matter, but it also differentiates between 
the various kinds of reader. The latter is of particular interest as far as the reader-response 
approach is concerned, as the different kinds of reader imply different reader-identities. 
Furthermore, according to the respective type of reader, the nature of the relation between 
children and adults, readers and authors varies. Together with Maria Lypp and Ulrich 
Nassen
, Ewers inquires into the aesthetics of children’s literature of the twentieth century,
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asking for challenges of the genre. The temporal proximity of this and Nikolajeva’s 
publication on aesthetics of children’s literature indicates the topicality of this issue for the 
genre, which is perceived on an international level. Another current aspect Ewers analyses are 
the influence and implications of the new media on children’s literature.
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The collision of 
print and digital media is one of the great challenges children’s literature is facing at present. 
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Maria Nikolajeva. From Mythic to Linear: Time in Children’s Literature. Lanham, MD; London: Children’s 
Literature Association and Scarecrow Press, 2000.
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Maria Nikolajeva. Aesthetic Approaches to Children’s Literature: An Introduction. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 
2005.
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Ewers, Literatur für Kinder und Jugendliche: Eine Einführung. 
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Hans-Heino Ewers; Maria Lypp; Ulrich Nassen (Eds.) Kinderliteratur und Moderne: Ästhetische 
Herausforderungen der Kinderliteratur im 20. Jahrhundert
. Weinheim; München: Juventa, 1990.
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Hans-Heino Ewers (Ed.) Lesen zwischen Neuen Medien und Pop-Kultur: Kinder- und Jugendliteratur im 
Zeitalter Multimedialen Entertainments
. Weinheim et al.: Juventa, 2002.

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Time will tell whether their relation will be a respectful coexistence, a cross or, eventually, 
dominated by digital media, not least due to an increasing circulation of ebooks.
With Kinderliterarische Komparatistik,
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