From Mythic to Linear: Time in Children's Literature
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.
1112290437
From Mythic to Linear: Time in Children's Literature
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.
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From Mythic to Linear: Time in Children's Literature

From Mythic to Linear: Time in Children's Literature

by Maria Nikolajeva
From Mythic to Linear: Time in Children's Literature

From Mythic to Linear: Time in Children's Literature

by Maria Nikolajeva

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Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781461658757
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date: 01/01/1991
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 318
File size: 1 MB

About the Author

Maria Nikolajeva is Professor of Comparative Literature at Stockholm University in Stockholm, Sweden. She was the president of the International Research Society for Children's Literature 1993-97. She has also been member of the North American Children's Literature Association since 1985 and has served on its International Committee.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgmentsvii
A Time to Be Born, and a Time to Diep1
An Excursus on Significant Meals11
Chapter 1.Secret Gardens, Enchanted Places19
Paradise Lost and Regained28
The Sacral Time31
Collective Experience, Adult View35
Chapter 2.The Domestic Story as Utopia41
Noisy Village--The Swedish Arcadia42
Children, Animals, and Toys47
Gastronomic Utopias55
Chapter 3.Social Utopias61
A Destroyed Paradise64
A Utopia of Mites70
The Omnipotent Child76
Trolls in the Baltic Woods79
Children in Power--King Matt80
Chapter 4.The Haunting of Time87
Puer Aeternus87
Land of (Condensed) Milk and Honey93
Midnight Gardens, Magic Wells103
A Wise Progenitrix or a Seductive Witch?112
A Grown-Up's Nostalgia118
Chapter 5.Picnic in the Unknown, or There and Back Again125
You Are Dead. Press Escape to Play Again126
Awfully Big Adventure136
A Variety of Picnics143
Chapter 6.Where Have All the Young Girls Gone?147
A Girl in Disguise149
Travellers in Time--A Female Initiation153
An Essential Link in Some Unknown Context159
Chapter 7.Breaking Away167
The Promise of Happiness?167
Toward Linearity174
Meeting Shadows181
Mother's Bread190
Bridges into Adulthood197
Chapter 8.Beyond the Point of No Return205
Deeper and Deeper into Dark Mysteries of Life207
Feasts of Life and Death216
Chapter 9.Mission Complete--Mission Failed221
Chapter 10.From Idyll to Collapse231
In the Enchanted Place233
Quest for Self-Knowledge237
Meeting with Death239
Breaking Away241
Disintegration249
Except Ye Be Converted, and Become As Little Children259
Bibliography267
Primary Sources267
Secondary Sources274
Index of Titles295
General Index301
About the Author307
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