Continuity and change in the treatment of frightening subject matter: contemporary retellings of classical mythology for children in the Low Countries

Ever since its origins, children's literature has dealt with frightening subject matter. The forms of such frightening fiction for children are, however, continuously changing. Retellings of classical mythology are a case in point as myths contain subjects that might be considered a threat to the romantic notion of the innocent child. As such, a focus upon the way authors deal with sex, death and violence in retellings of classical mythology reveals how the paradoxical impulses that govern the act of retelling that is, a desire for preserving and challenging cultural tradition alter under the influence of society's changing ideas about children and their literature. This paper concentrates on the rich and vivid tradition of retelling classical myths in the Low Countries. Shifts in the choice of pretext and in the age of the intended audience reveal a change of attitude towards frightening subjects in classical myths during the last decades. A closer look at retellings of the creation myths, dealing with sexual and lethal violence between parents and children, and the subject of death in the myth of Orpheus shows how the retellings of frightening myths range from unequivocal presentations as cautionary tales to demanding narratives generating unfixed meanings