Poetics of Children's Literature

by Zohar Shavit

Since its emergence in the seventeenth century as a distinctive cultural system, children’s literature has had a culturally inferior status resulting from its existence in a netherworld between the literary system and the educational system. In addition to its official readership—children—it has to be approved of by adults. Writers for children, explains Zohar Shavit, are constrained to respond to these multiple systems of often mutually contradictory demands. Most writers do not try to bypass these constraints, but accept them as a framework for their work. In the most extreme cases an author may ignore one segment of the readership. If the adult reader is ignored, the writer risks rejection, as is the case of popular literature. If the writer utilizes the child as a pseudo addressee in order to appeal to an adult audience, the result can be what Shavit terms an ambivalent work. s literature, but also how society has been reflected in the literary works it produces for its children.

Genres: Nonfiction, Childrens, Theory

200 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Zohar Shavit incumbent of the Porter Chair of Semiotics and Culture Research, Vice dean for research, a full professor at the School for Cultural Studies and the Chairperson of the Program in Research of Child and Youth Culture at Tel Aviv University. She is an internationally renowned authority on the history of Israeli culture, child and youth culture, and Hebrew and Jewish cultures, especially in the context of their relations with various European cultures.

She is the author of ten books, among them:The Literary Life in Eretz-Israel, 1910-1933,The Construction of Hebrew Culture in Eretz Israel,A Past without Shadow, and German-Jewish Literature for Children and Adolescents

Reviews

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shavit will require a second more thorough reading for me to fully internalize the concepts. I appreciate the aesthetic approach to children's literature and imagine this work having a place in my dissertation.

Great bibliography that enhanced my "to-read" list.

See Notes.

UNC PN 1009 A1 S38 1986