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

6.
 
Formal innovations 
Subsequent to the analysis of modern content structures, we will devote our attention 
to formal innovations in modern British fantasy for children. For this purpose, expressive 
aspects have been selected which illustrate the development of formal innovations through 
time. Each of these aspects will be examined in respect of its development from the past until 
today as well as its relative importance for current fantasy literature for children. In the 
following, we will investigate the following current issues and their equivalents in the past: 
The canon, the phenomenon “allalderslitteratur”, the blurring borders of the readership and 
target groups, single versus dual address, crossover literature and “infantilisation”. It is in 
these areas that far-reaching changes can be observed that influence and decisively set the 
tone of the genre’s present landscape.
6.1
 
Canon 
Canon and children’s literature – one may ask whether this combination is not 
mutually exclusive. Indeed, in connection with children’s literature, the term “canon” may 
strike people as strange or even as inappropriate at first, as it is normally used exclusively in 
connection with literature for adults. A canon, which can be defined as
2. (often pl) a general rule or standard, as of judgment, morals, etc. 3. (often pl) a principle or accepted 
criterion applied in a branch of learning or art. 6. a list of writings, esp. sacred writings, officially 
recognised as genuine. [...] from Greek kanōn rule, rod for measuring, standard [...]
1
unites selected works of a high literary quality and thus serves as a seal of quality. Having 
been established, tried and tested over time, a canon is very stable as it sets a standard. Any 
changes, i.e. additions to or subtractions from it are not decided on spontaneously but are 
subject to a long selection procedure before they are accepted.
The possibility that children’s literature can dispose of high literary quality as well has 
long been and frequently still is denied. Considered as learner’s literature and designed for 
didactic and educational purposes, children’s literature was – and is – seen as functional. For 
this reason, it has been – and often still is - denied the status of a poetic work of art.
2
Although in the field there is much dispute going on whether there can be, is or should 
be a canon of children’s literature at all, from the start children’s literature has been regulated 
1
Collins Dictionary, p. 235.
2
Compare Kümmerling-Meibauer, Kinderliteratur, Kanonbildung und literarische Wertung, pp. 4-5.

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204 
and controlled – a fact which contradicts the impossibility or non-existence of a canon. Ironic 
as it may seem, it is adults who decide what is written, published and sold as a book for 
children, and often they also buy the books for the children, too.
3
As long as children’s 
literature has been in existence, many have tried to establish a certain general framework of 
standards
for the genre. This framework creates a selected and fixed horizon of expectations 
and demands, thus setting the parameters within which acknowledged - since considered good 
and practical – literature for children can range. Whether this is officially referred to as a 
canon or simply considered as guidelines, its effect remains the same. Such a regulated canon 
or framework that defines what can be counted as children’s literature and what cannot helps 
adults as custodians of good taste and decency to set standards. Yet once a novel has 
established itself within an official framework it attains quite a stable position as it requires 
not only considerable effort, but also changes over time in areas such as politics, religion, 
society, morals and taste in order to change the parameters – and with it the elements - of a 
canon.