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Dreaming In Storytelling
You may not remember dreaming after you sleep, but you’ll encounter many dream sequences in books. Isn’t it cheesy to rely on dreams? Don’t rational readers know that dreams cannot predict the future — that dreams are the scrabbled outworkings of a brain tidying itself up? Dreams, daydreams, visions, prophecies, processes of memory… all of…
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School In Children’s Literature
SCHOOL AS THE WILD WEST School itself must be so different these days than it was when you were in school. Certainly, having kids helps, but is that ever an issue for you when you’re writing? I was reading about this phenomenon in television and film writing, which is that the references to school are…
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The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter Short Story Analysis
“The Bloody Chamber” is a feminist-leftie re-visioning of Bluebeard, written in the gothic tradition, set in a French castle with clear-cut goodies and baddies. The title story of The Bloody Chamber, first published in 1979, was directly inspired by Charles Perrault’s fairy tales of 1697: his “Barbebleue” (Bluebeard) shapes Angela Carter’s retelling, as she lingers…
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The Swimmer by John Cheever Analysis
“The Swimmer”(1964) is considered one of Cheever’s best short stories. Anne Enright feels that this would never have worked as the novel Cheever had originally planned and adds that it would work even better as a short story had he lost one or two pools. (The naturist communists are amusing but we don’t want any…
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Why so many orphans in children’s literature?
Orphans in modern literature evolved from orphans of folk and fairytales. There are many orphans in American and British children’s literature, but also in literature from around the world. Some communities have always been set up with strong social networks. Even if parents die, there are no true orphans because the extended family will care for them.…
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In order to critique it, we’re going to have to show it
I am always saddened to hear that some teacher or librarian is in trouble because of something I have written. They are the true heroes in my mind. But I have come to believe that if a book has power, it will always have the power to offend someone. I don’t want to write books…
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Compare and Contrast: Twilight and Pride and Prejudice
Is Twilight the modern Pride and Prejudice? There are some interesting parallels. I listened to a lecture from the Kid You Not Podcast in which Clementine and Lauren discuss the appeal of dark paranormal romance among teenage girls. This reminded me of a lecture delivered by La Trobe University’s David Beagley. Fiction For Young Adults, Lecture…
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The Appeal Of Dark Paranormal Romance
Paranormal romance is a literary subgenre of the romance novel. A type of speculative fiction, paranormal romance focuses on romance and includes elements beyond the range of scientific explanation.
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Death In Children’s Literature
Many people will probably tell you their first brush with death was watching Bambi. I can’t say the same because I never saw the animated Disney film. I thought I knew the story for the longest time, because my grandmother bought me a Little Golden Book called Bambi and Friends Of The Forest. I still…
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What Makes A Book For Young Adults?
Little Women, Anne of Green Gables — we now look at these books as historical but Little Women was written about current affairs, about finding a husband while a father was away at war. Pride and Prejudice was also about finding boys. Puberty Blues, a contemporary novel set in Newcastle, is again about a group…
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What Is Quality Children’s Literature? What Is Trash?
Children’s literature is often lumped into two broad groups: treasure and trash. The former is sometimes called ‘literary’, the latter ‘commercial’.
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Parasocial Relationships In Fiction and Life
Let’s talk about parasocial relationships (PSRs). Who do you think of when you think Person In A Parasocial Relationship? Is it, by any chance, an Annie Wilkes archetype cf. Stephen King’s Misery?
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Dystopia, Apocalypse and Climate Fiction
According to a large portion of the world’s population, humankind is already living in a dystopia.
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What can flight symbolise in literature?
Flight is amazingly common in children’s stories. Several other motifs should be considered symbolically similar: FLOATING AS FLIGHT SYMBOLISM Characters might hold onto helium balloons, levitate by magic or by supernatural means. A picture book example of floating can be seen in “Outside Over There” by Maurice Sendak, in which Ida floats backwards out the…
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Defining Fantasy In Children’s Literature
As Fanny Howe reminds us, the fairy tale is a form in which, like Midas’ golden touch, a simple wish conjures up a reality that was all along potential. Not better, just possible. Emily Carr, Fairy Tale Review David Beagley, LaTrobe University, available on iTunes U Fantasy comprises the largest segment of children’s literature, and is close…