Author: Gary Westfahl Publisher: Praeger ISBN: 0313308470 Category : Literary Criticism Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Literature often is central to individual maturation. It typically reflects, in one way or another, the experiences of the reader and the larger strains of society. This book examines representative works of science fiction, children's literature, and popular culture as mirrors of what it means to grow up in the late 20th century world. That world is permeated by technology, and technology thus figures prominently in the process of growing up and in these literary works.
Author: Gary Westfahl Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA ISBN: 0313030286 Category : Literary Criticism Languages : en Pages : 174
Book Description
In a constantly changing world, individuals are forever growing to meet the challenges and developments that emerge around them. In contemporary society, technology is at the heart of change. Literature, too, reflects the evolution of culture and increasingly represents and considers technology. And as children become young adults, their reading helps shape their understanding of the world. This book examines representative works of science fiction, children's literature, and popular culture to show how these works reflect the process of growing up in a technological world. The volume looks at the simple picture books and comic books that appeal to small children; the formulaic adventures that fascinate older children; the films and television programs that are watched by children and young adolescents; the music videos and programming that appeal to young adults; and the popular novels that interest older readers. Included are discussions of Superman, the Hardy Boys, Star Trek, science fiction films, and music videos. The book points to similarities among popular culture, science fiction, and children's literature and demonstrates the relevance of these works to contemporary society.
Author: Annette Wannamaker Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1135923590 Category : Literary Criticism Languages : en Pages : 198
Book Description
Boys in Children’s Literature and Popular Culture proposes new theoretical frameworks for understanding the contradictory ways masculinity is represented in popular texts consumed by boys in the United States. The popular texts boys like are often ignored by educators and scholars, or are simply dismissed as garbage that boys should be discouraged from enjoying. However, examining and making visible the ways masculinity functions in these texts is vital to understanding the broad array of works that make up children’s culture and form dominant versions of masculinity. Such popular texts as Harry Potter, Captain Underpants, and Japanese manga and anime often perform rituals of subject formation in overtly grotesque ways that repulse adult readers and attract boys. They often use depictions of the abject – threats to bodily borders – to blur the distinctions between what is outside the body and what is inside, between what is "I" and what is "not I." Because of their reliance on depictions of the abject, those popular texts that most vigorously perform exaggerated versions of masculinity also create opportunities to make dominant masculinity visible as a social construct.
Author: Carrie Hintz Publisher: Broadview Press ISBN: 1460406699 Category : Literary Criticism Languages : en Pages : 633
Book Description
Reading Children’s Literature offers insights into the major discussions and debates currently animating the field of children’s literature. Informed by recent scholarship and interest in cultural studies and critical theory, it is a compact core text that introduces students to the historical contexts, genres, and issues of children’s literature. A beautifully designed and illustrated supplement to individual literary works assigned, it also provides apparatus that makes it a complete resource for working with children’s literature during and after the course. The second edition includes a new chapter on children’s literature and popular culture (including film, television, and merchandising) and has been updated throughout to reflect recent scholarship and new offerings in children’s media.
Author: Emer O'Sullivan Publisher: Scarecrow Press ISBN: 0810874962 Category : Literary Criticism Languages : en Pages : 373
Book Description
Children's literature comes from a number of different sources-folklore (folk- and fairy tales), books originally for adults and subsequently adapted for children, and material authored specifically for them-and its audience ranges from infants through middle graders to young adults (readers from about 12 to 18 years old). Its forms include picturebooks, pop-up books, anthologies, novels, merchandising tie-ins, novelizations, and multimedia texts, and its genres include adventure stories, drama, science fiction, poetry, and information books. The Historical Dictionary of Children's Literature relates the history of children's literature through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, a bibliography, and over 500 cross-referenced dictionary entries on authors, books, and genres. Some of the most legendary names in all of literature are covered in this important reference, including Hans Christian Anderson, L. Frank Baum, Lewis Carroll, Roald Dahl, Charles Dickens, C.S. Lewis, Beatrix Potter, J.K. Rowling, Robert Louis Stevenson, Mark Twain, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jules Verne, and E.B. White.
Author: Gary Westfahl Publisher: McFarland ISBN: 1476686599 Category : Literary Criticism Languages : en Pages : 298
Book Description
While students and general readers typically cannot relate to esoteric definitions of science fiction, they readily understand the genre as a literature that characteristically deals with subjects such as new inventions, space, robot and aliens. This book looks at science fiction in precisely this manner, with twenty-one chapters that each deal with a subject that is repeatedly addressed in science fiction of recent centuries. Based on a packet of original essays that the author assembled for his classes, the book could serve as a supplemental textbook in science fiction classes, but also contains material of interest to science fiction scholars and others devoted to the genre. In some cases, chapters offer thorough surveys of numerous works involving certain subjects, such as imagined vehicles, journeys beneath the Earth and undersea adventures, discovering intriguing patterns in the ways that various writers developed their ideas. When comprehensive coverage of ubiquitous topics such as robots, aliens and the planet Mars is impossible, chapters focus on major themes referencing selected texts. A conclusion discusses other science fiction subjects that were omitted for various reasons, and a bibliography lists additional resources for the study of science fiction in general and the topics of each chapter.
Author: L. Geraghty Publisher: Springer ISBN: 1137350377 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 256
Book Description
Popular Media Cultures explores the relationship between audiences and media texts, their paratexts and interconnected ephemera. Authors focus on the cultural work done by media audiences, how they engage with social media and how convergence culture impacts on the strategies and activities of popular media fans.
Author: K. Sands-O'Connor Publisher: Springer ISBN: 1137360313 Category : Literary Criticism Languages : en Pages : 201
Book Description
Internationalism in Children's Series brings together international children's literature scholars who interpret 'internationalism' through various cultural, historical and theoretical lenses. From imperialism to transnationalism, from Tom Swift to Harry Potter, this book addresses the unique ability of series to introduce children to the world.
Author: Gary Westfahl
Author: Gary Westfahl
Author: Annette Wannamaker
Author: Carrie Hintz
Author: Emer O'Sullivan
Author: Philip Nel
Author: 
Author: Gary Westfahl
Author: L. Geraghty
Author: K. Sands-O'Connor