Maria Nikolajeva

Time has passed since 'having a PhD in children's literature' was a funny joke in You've Got Mail. Children's literature research is now one of the most dynamic fields of literary criticism and of education, and has a bright future ahead - as children's writers and publishers invent yet more forms of literature for young people, and researchers find yet more sophisticated ways of exploring them. This collection takes informed and scholarly readers to the utmost frontier of children's literature criticism, from the intricate worlds of children's poetry, picturebooks and video games to the new theoretical constellations of critical plant studies, non-fiction studies and big data analyses of literature.

Originally published in 1996. A detailed analysis of the art of children's literature covering world literature for children, children's literature as a canonical art form, the history of children's literature from a semiotic perspective, and epic, polyphony, chronotope, intertextuality, and metafiction in children's literature.

Sedan Barnbokens byggklossar skrevs för tjugo år sedan har barnlitteraturens värld förändrats på ett sätt som var omöjligt att förutsäga och en ny upplaga känns mer angelägen än någonsin. I den mångfacetterade utgivningen har boken en bestämd plats med sin undersökning av berättartekniken i äldre och nyare barnböcker. Denna tredje upplaga har både utökats och kortats ned. Harry Potter-romanerna intar en framträdande plats, inte bara för att böckerna är välkända och ingår i många högskolekurser i barnlitteratur, utan även för att de utgör ett tacksamt material för olika diskussioner kring barnlitteraturens beståndsdelar. Den mest framträdande kompletteringen har skett inom området kognitiv narratologi, som både anknyter direkt till bokens huvudtanke och är ett av de mest dynamiska forskningsfälten inom den internationella barnlitteraturforskningen. Av de övriga nyare teorierna har författaren lagt särskild vikt på funktionshinderstudier, posthumanistiska studier och djurstudier, eftersom de har tillfogat barnlitteraturforskningen flera nya och spännande aspekter. Boken är en systervolym till Bilderbokens pusselbitar och avsedd för studenter i litteraturvetenskap vid universitet och högskolor samt för alla med intresse för barnlitteratur.

How Picturebooks Work is an innovative and engaging look at the interplay between text and image in picturebooks. The authors explore picturebooks as a specific medium or genre in literature and culture, one that prepares children for other media of communication, and they argue that picturebooks may be the most influential media of all in the socialization and representation of children. Spanning an international range of children's books, this book examine such favorites as Curious George and Frogand Toad Are Friends, along with the works of authors and illustrators including Maurice Sendak and Tove Jansson, among others. With 116 illustrations, How PicturebooksWork offers the student of children's literature a new methodology, new theories, and a new set of critical tools for examining the picturebook form.

Originally published in 1996. A detailed analysis of the art of children's literature covering world literature for children, children's literature as a canonical art form, the history of children's literature from a semiotic perspective, and epic, polyphony, chronotope, intertextuality, and metafiction in children's literature.

Denne antologi sætter fokus på litteraturlæsning i dansk på grundskolens mellemtrin og i udskolingen. Ud fra spørgsmålet om hvorfor vi læser litteratur i skolen, belyses litteraturens potentiale i forhold til udvikling af empati og det at danne sig som menneske. Der gives bud på, hvad der skal undervises i, og hvordan det kan gøres for at skabe lyst til at læse litteratur. Bogen viser litteraturlæsningens mange facetter fra det overordnede spørgsmål om, hvad litteraturen kan, til det praksisnære hvordan. Hvert kapitel udfolder sin særlige vinkel på litteraturundervisning i praksis med afsæt i så forskelligartede tekster som billedbøger, ny ungdomslitteratur og den ældre litteratur. Med dette udgangspunkt henvender bogen sig til dansklærere, dansk- og læsevejledere, bibliotekarer, undervisere og studerende på lærer- og diplomuddannelsen.

This book considers one of the most controversial aspects of children’s and young adult literature: its use as an instrument of power. Children in contemporary Western society are oppressed and powerless, yet they are allowed, in fiction written by adults for the enlightenment and enjoyment of children, to become strong, brave, rich, powerful, and independent -- on certain conditions and for a limited time. Though the best children’s literature offers readers the potential to challenge the authority of adults, many authors use artistic means such as the narrative voice and the subject position to manipulate the child reader. Looking at key works from the eighteenth century to the present, Nikolajeva explores topics such as genre, gender, crossvocalization, species, and picturebook images. Contemporary power theories including social and cultural studies, carnival theory, feminism, postcolonial and queer studies, and narratology are also considered, in order to demonstrate how a balance is maintained between the two opposite inherent goals of children’s literature: to empower and to educate the child.

This book considers one of the most controversial aspects of children’s and young adult literature: its use as an instrument of power. Children in contemporary Western society are oppressed and powerless, yet they are allowed, in fiction written by adults for the enlightenment and enjoyment of children, to become strong, brave, rich, powerful, and independent -- on certain conditions and for a limited time. Though the best children’s literature offers readers the potential to challenge the authority of adults, many authors use artistic means such as the narrative voice and the subject position to manipulate the child reader. Looking at key works from the eighteenth century to the present, Nikolajeva explores topics such as genre, gender, crossvocalization, species, and picturebook images. Contemporary power theories including social and cultural studies, carnival theory, feminism, postcolonial and queer studies, and narratology are also considered, in order to demonstrate how a balance is maintained between the two opposite inherent goals of children’s literature: to empower and to educate the child.

How Picturebooks Work is an innovative and engaging look at the interplay between text and image in picturebooks. The authors explore picturebooks as a specific medium or genre in literature and culture, one that prepares children for other media of communication, and they argue that picturebooks may be the most influential media of all in the socialization and representation of children. Spanning an international range of children's books, this book examine such favorites as Curious George and Frogand Toad Are Friends, along with the works of authors and illustrators including Maurice Sendak and Tove Jansson, among others. With 116 illustrations, How PicturebooksWork offers the student of children's literature a new methodology, new theories, and a new set of critical tools for examining the picturebook form.

As undergraduate and graduate courses in children's literature become more established and numerous, there is an intense need for a textbook that offers aesthetic rather than educational approaches to children's literature. This work fills that void by providing students of children's literature with a comprehensible and easy-to-use analytical tool kit, showing through concrete demonstration how each tool might best be used. The chapters are organized around familiar and easily recognized features of literary texts (e.g. author, genre, character). Theoretical issues are illustrated by specific texts from the North American children's literature canon. The book explores the particular aesthetics of children's fiction and the ways critical theory may be applied to children's texts, while remaining accessible to a college readership without prior specialized knowledge of literary theory. Each chapter includes a short introduction to a specific theoretical approach (e.g. semiotics, feminist, psychoanalytic), an example of its application to a literary text, a number of activities (study questions, reading exercises), and suggestions for further explorations.

Now available in paperback! Until now, there was no theoretical research of character in children's fiction and very few comprehensive theoretical studies of literary characters in general. In her latest intellectual foray, the author of From Mythic to Linear ponders the art of characterization. Through a variety of critical perspectives, she uncovers the essential differences between story ('what we are told') and discourse ('how we are told'), and carefully distinguishes between how these are employed in children's fiction and in general fiction. Yet another masterful work by a leading figure in contemporary criticism.

Bilderböcker är en stor och speciell del av barnlitteraturen. Om man bortser från den skenbara enkelheten och ser närmare på det intrikata samspel mellan ord och bilder som tillsammans skapar en betydelse, upptäcker man att bilderboken är en av de mest komplicerade konstnärliga former man kan tänka sig. Bilderna talar till läsaren utöver och jämsides med den skrivna texten. De kan uttrycka händelser, stämningar och känslor bättre än ord. Men vad är det som gör en bok till en bilderbok? Vad är skillnaden mellan en bilderbok och en barnbok med illustrationer? Vad är bilderbokens speciella estetik? På vilket sätt skiljer sig bilderbokens uttrycksmedel från romanens? Vilka olika förhållanden finns det mellan ord och bilder i en bilderbok? Vilka metoder kan tillämpas för att undersöka ikonotexten, den enhet av text och bild som förmedlar bilderbokens betydelse? I denna systervolym till "Barnbokens byggklossar" erbjuder Maria Nikolajeva enkla, praktiska och konsekventa redskap för att förstå, avnjuta och analysera bilderböcker. Hon diskuterar bilderboken som ett estetiskt föremål och går genom ikonotextens olika aspekter, som miljöskildring, personskildring, berättarperspektiv, temporalitet och modalitet. Boken är rikt illustrerad med exempel från klassiska och moderna bilderböcker. Den är avsedd för studenter i litteraturvetenskap, konstvetenskap, barnkultur och vid lärarhögskolor samt för alla med intresse för barnlitteratur.

Now available in paperback! In this radically new approach to text typology, Maria Nikolajeva examines the depiction of time in literature for children. Nikolajeva identifies a continuum of texts ranging from those that depict non-linear time, typical of archaic, or mythical, thought, to those that express linearity, typical of contemporary mainstream literature. The author argues that literature is a deconstruction, a displacement, of myth, and that it depicts a symbolic coming-of-age process rather than a strictly representational reflection of a concrete "reality." The texts are categorized by the degree to which the coming-of-age process is accomplished; the movement is from an initial condition of primary harmony (Arcadia, Paradise, Utopia) through different stages toward either a successful or a failed passage. From Mythic to Linear is a broad study, encompassing a number of children's novels from different epochs and countries: Scandinavian, British, American, Canadian, Australian, South African, and East European. The international character contributes a better knowledge of children's literature from different parts of the world—widening the horizons of children's literature research too often confined to one particular country. Nikolajeva's unique approach allows her to disregard the traditional, and some would argue obsolete, division of children's novels into realism and fantasy. With its unique approach and broad international scope, From Mythic to Linear will be of interest to all those interested in children's literature and in comparative literature in general. Includes bibliography and footnotes.