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FINAL Current Developments at the Intersection of British Children ONLINE VERSION
Curse of Salamanderstreet
, Wormwood and Tersias, to name only a few. This trend of an increased brutalisation of customs, behaviour and their ways of representation is not limited to the more mature readers, but establishes itself in the younger ones as well. In Stewart and Riddell’s The Edge Chronicles for example the detailed realisations of one novel try to 118 outclass those of another, i.e. increasing both frequency and graphicness. This phenomenon is by no means peripheral or insular. Rather, it fits into the general, global development of the genre. Far from being limited to Britain, it also manifests itself in publications on other continents. Prominent representatives are the Inheritance cycle of the American Paolini or the Abhorsen trilogy of the Australian Nix. Like Jacques’ Redwall series, Stewart and Riddell’s The Edge Chronicles are sold for a younger and more restricted target group as for instance Harry Potter. The readers are confronted with a considerable degree of graphic violence. Admittedly, at first the authors are a dab hand at wrapping it up skilfully in a gripping and interesting story, interspersed with artistic illustrations. With every volume, however, the number of violent scenes and their goriness increase. In Beyond the Deepwoods, 103 the first novel of the series, graphic violence is limited to the sounds of a banderbear being eaten alive by wig-wigs. 104 Its sequel, Stormchaser , 105 continues treading the adopted path of violence. Screed Toe-Taker kills his victims and nails their mummified toes as trophies to the wall of his abode. 106 More mutilations comprise cut-off ears and a beheading. Whereas in Midnight over Sanctaphrax 107 a captain of the sky pirates is devoured in an arena, The Last of the Sky Pirates confronts the reader with someone being eaten alive from within. The next volume, The Curse of the Gloamglozer , uses even more graphic violence. Again, mutilations take place; Quint has a terrifying encounter with a mummified corpse, only to realise that “the entire floor was littered with dead bodies”. 108 In Vox, an assassin on his way to work is cut in half, and Undertowners unfit for slavery are killed while the survivors are forced to bury the dead in mass graves. 109 Whenever one is convinced that the climax of violence must have been reached and that it cannot possibly get any worse, the authors put the screws on even further. In chapter seventeen, “Bloodbath on the Blackwood Bridge”, 110 blood flows copiously everywhere but within its accustomed vessels. Amongst other atrocities, carnage and cannibalism are fixtures in Freeglader, 111 too. 103 Paul Stewart; Chris Riddell. The Edge Chronicles. Beyond the Deepwoods. London: Corgi, 1999 [1998]. 104 Ibd., p. 151. 105 Paul Stewart; Chris Riddell. The Edge Chronicles. Stormchaser. London: Corgi, 2000 [1999]. 106 Ibd., pp. 107-109. 107 Paul Stewart; Chris Riddell. The Edge Chronicles. Midnight over Sanctaphrax. London: Corgi, 2001. [2000]. 108 Stewart; Riddell, The Curse of the Gloamgloazer, pp. 221-224. 109 Stewart; Riddell, Vox, p. 309. 110 Ibd., p. 352. 111 Paul Stewart; Chris Riddell. The Edge Chronicles. Freeglader. London: Doubleday, 2004. 119 And she had been merciful, she remembered. Rather than linger over the flayed, tortured body longer than she’d needed, she had torn out the heart with a single stab of her beak and swallowed it while it was still beating. Delicious! The librarian had just lived long enough to see it. 112 Compared to Freeglader, The Winter Knights contains just as much graphic violence, albeit with fewer gory details. All in all, The Edge Chronicles may present a well thought-out secondary world replete with its own flora and fauna, physical laws and occupations resulting from them, but this abundance of creativity comes at a high price. Highly original fantastic creatures on the one hand are countered with death and slaughter on the other. Inevitably, this leads to the question whether such a high degree of creativity and invention necessitates a simultaneous loss or conscious abandonment of good taste. Is graphic violence the price that has to be paid for entertainment? The bloody cover illustrations of Foreman’s Keepers and Seekers already anticipate that reading the novels is far from being a bloodless or harmless pastime. By dividing the main strands of the plot into modern times on the one hand and Early Middle Ages and Second World War on the other, the author reveals the diachronic change of forms and practices of violence. The main conflict focuses on the possession of Amera’s stone of power. Whilst the Keepers around the respective Stone Keeper – led by the immortal gods Myroy and Tirani – hide the stone over the centuries, the Seekers – under the command of the gods’ brother Odin – search for it. Both parties have allies who support them in their cause. One of its crucial phases takes place in the Britain of the Early Middle Ages. In numerous battle scenes between Scots, Picts, Irish, Welsh etc., the slaughter and destruction 113 worked with contemporary weapons is rendered in great detail. In these unstable times where looting, pillaging and raiding are presented as being nothing unusual, many innocent villagers are murdered or maimed. Not only are the Early Middle Ages a decisive phase for the fate of the stone but also the period with the most incidents of graphic violence. Among the carnage portrayed, the poisoning of the Irish king Patrick appears almost harmless. 114 In more modern times, the frequent mutilations on the archaic one-to-one basis recede more into the background. Instead, weapons of mass destruction are used. Certainly, the casualties still happen, and, due to the wide-range weapons, exceed those of the Middle Ages by far in numbers. 112 Ibd., p. 144. 113 Colin Foreman. Keepers and Seekers. To the End of the World. Glenlomond: Myroy Books, 2005 [2004], p. 33. 114 Colin Foreman. Keepers and Seekers. Killer in the Dark. Glenlomond: Myroy Books, 2006, p. 347. 120 The period of the Second World War contrasts sharply with that of the Early Middle Ages. Even though both strands of the narration are concerned with war, their strategies and weapons differ fundamentally. In the Middle Ages, even in battle, the tactility of duel combat at close range prevails, whereas the fighting of the Second World War takes place over a distance. Without immediate contact with the enemy, the killing seems to become more anonymous and abstract. It is in the present that the conflict around the stone culminates. In present-day Britain, the main character Peter has become the Last Keeper of the Stone. Although the second volume ends with the death of Peter’s girlfriend, the third volume reveals that the killings were nothing but an illusion. Nevertheless, the graphic violence continues in the third volume. A special feature of Foreman’s novels is the interweaving of the above-mentioned different time levels. Even if it may not become apparent at first glance, everything is connected. Present and past are shown to be dependent on each other, especially when their borders are crossed in both directions in crucial moments for the future of the stone. Not only the Gods but also Keepers and Seekers can traverse the borders of space and time. As a result, people from the present can meet those of the past and vice versa: For instance, Scottish warriors from the Early Middle Ages or Second World War soldiers around Peter’s granddad are shifted through time and actively participate in battles fought long after their own death, and the Scottish warriors Donald and Hamish fight Odin’s Valkyrie on a train of the Metropolitan Line in London without batting an eyelid. The fact that the train they are on is being pursued by a longship only adds to the fantastic consequences of the overlap of times. It is already in the foreword that Beddor’s The Looking-Glass Wars 115 draw the reader’s attention to the fact that this supposedly original version of the story of Alice in Wonderland is not intended for readers “of a more sensitive disposition”. 116 Indeed, this is no understatement. We are informed that “the true story of Wonderland involves bloodshed, murder, revenge and war.” 117 This admittedly unusual start of a fantasy novel for children outlines and anticipates the developments and events to follow. The latter revolve around a general mood of explosive aggression and violence. A flashback into the past of the related events reveals that twelve years before the story sets in, in the wake of carnage and 115 Frank Beddor. The Looking Glass Wars. London: Egmont, 2005. [2004] 116 Ibd.; foreword. 117 Ibd.; foreword. 121 destruction, “unbridled bloodshed spattered the doorstep of every Wonderlander.” 118 On her way to power, Redd murders everyone but Alyss standing in the way of her succession to the throne. Her niece only escapes death by leaving Wonderland. Twelve years after Redd’s seizure of power, she has firmly established her reign of terror: In labour camps, she has prisoners tortured, slaughtered and thrown into mass graves. A strong reminiscence of such parallel atrocities for example committed under the Nazi regime during the Second World War cannot be overlooked. Violence, just like magic, is one of the threads running through Rowling’s series. This is not to say that positive values such as love, courage, trust, respect and friendship do not play an important role. As the moral message of the novels, no doubt they are intended to outweigh any evil deeds in the end. Still, as the series progresses, the intensity and frequency of violent acts increases parallel to the threat personified by Lord Voldemort. The positive aspects are heterodyned by an increasingly gloomy, laden atmosphere, which eventually discharges during the Last Stand. Even after the successful defeat of the dark wizard and the end of his reign of terror, numbness and shock prevail. Too many people have lost their lives in the series, especially in the seventh volume, leaving no room for any exuberant celebrations in honour of the final triumph. For good reason, the epilogue is set nineteen years after Voldemort’s defeat. Yet in the chronological order of both print and reading the epilogue nevertheless follows immediately after the final chapter, so that the intended distance cannot really make itself felt. Since the necessary digestion of the events is suspended, the light- hearted, nostalgic family scenes at the Hogwarts’ Express appear artificial and their cheerfulness forced. In Rowling’s Harry Potter series there is no shortage of incidents where graphic violence is used. It is already in the first volume 119 that we learn about the violent death of Harry’s parents by the hands of Voldemort. At the end of the same novel, Harry himself faces his archenemy for the second time in his short life, and, as before, Voldemort tries and fails to kill the boy. This duel between Harry and Voldemort repeats itself in the other volumes, in all but the seventh with the same result. In The Chamber of Secrets, Harry is repeatedly threatened by the Basilisk’s murderous thoughts, but he is also injured physically during sports. Slowly, the intensity and significance of incidents of graphic violence increase, influencing the further course of the series. Right 118 Ibd.; p. 7. 119 J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. London: Bloomsbury, 1997. 122 from the beginning, with an allegedly dangerous criminal on the loose, Harry Potter and the Download 1.22 Mb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
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