The impossible legacy: Identity and purpose in recent (1970-95) English and German language autobiographical children's literature set in the Third Reich and the Second World War.

It is the aim of this study to explore the phenomenon of recent (1970-1995) English and German language autobiographical writing for children in which writers' childhood experiences during the Third Reich, the war years and the immediate post-war period provide the basis for a fictionalised reconstruction of childhood. The complex relationship between childhood and adulthood evident in these texts is one forged by the particular social and historical circumstances of wartime, as many writers affected by the last world war are engaged in a process of reassessing their own identities in accordance with changing perspectives on the past. Current ideologies inevitably shape the adult narrator's reconstruction of the historical events which a child could not understand fully at the time. In these texts, recording experience for the next generation serves a therapeutic as well as a didactic purpose, for each enables the writer to regain contact with the childhood self in a contained and clearly focussed narrative. A detailed thematic and stylistic analysis of selected texts is informed by a survey of studies on the history and purpose of autobiographical writing about childhood, an examination of the of role of writing as therapy in the psychoanalytical tradition, and the position of language in the autobiographical process. In particular, the work of Jung and the reinterpretation of Freud by Jacques Lacan has illuminated discussion of these issues. Comparisons are made between retrospective accounts of wartime childhood by German, Jewish and British writers; differences in the nature and volume of autobiographical writing in German and English are related to the timing of these accounts and the decision to write for a child audience. In passing stories on to the next generation, writers' selection of content and control of narrative perspective are indicative of both national and personal preoccupations. Finally, the interplay between a historically evolving reevaluation of the past and the developmental history of the self is related to aspects of the reception of texts and the purposes they are expected to fulfil

Time, Narrative Intimacy and the Child : Implications of the Transition from the Present to the Past Tense in the Translation into English of Children’s Texts

The British version of Jean de Brunhoff’s Histoire de Babar is a striking example of the transition from the present to the past tense in the translation of children’s texts into English. With reference to theories of narrative time, this paper invites speculation on the impact of such a tense shift on the present-tense qualities of the original, on the performance of a shared reading by child and adult and, finally, on the relevance of the young child’s developing understanding of the role of tense in narrative.La version britannique de l’Histoire de Babar de Jean de Brunhoff fournit un exemple frappant d’un procédé fréquemment employé dans la traduction en anglais de textes pour enfants, et qui consiste à traduire le présent de narration par le passé simple. À partir des théories sur le temps narratif on cherche à évaluer dans quelle mesure ce glissement dans les temps verbaux est susceptible d’influencer, d’une part, la qualité littéraire du texte traduit par rapport à l’original, d’autre part, les possibilités d’une lecture performative partagée par un adulte et un enfant et finalement le développement cognitif de l’enfant dans son appréciation du rôle joué par les temps verbaux dans les récits

Translating children's literature /

Met bibl. (p. 145-156) en reg

Modern Children's Literature: An Introduction

Modern children's literature is currently receiving much public and critical attention. Organized to show developments in children's literature over time and across genres, this introductory guide looks at key British, American and Australian works, from picture books and texts for younger children, through to graphic novels and young adult fiction. Each chapter applies specific critical approaches, supported by explanatory boxed material and suggestions for further reading. The second edition of this established, classic text has been thoroughly revised, updated and expanded to reflect current issues in the field. It features new chapters by leading names on key topics such as canon formation, psychoanalytic approaches, fantasy, and technology, and includes an essay on children's poetry by the former Children's Laureate, Michael Rosen