Course Details

ENGL 208 - Studies In Children's Literature

Sleeping spells and talking animals, not to mention the morally clear universe that often defies natural laws, are among the tropes of children’s literature that provide us with our earliest images of human adventure. As readers of this genre, even as adult readers, we seek to share in the characters’ enchantment and peril. This course will not only examine the archetypes of the deserving hero, the distressed damsel, and the conniving antagonist ("wicked stepmothers" as well as indisposed beasts) but will also consider the variations of narrative logic across different cultures and times. Reading both traditional and contemporary tales, poems, and short stories of children’s literature, we will explore how this genre depicts children and adults within its narrative space, as well as what the genre reveals about its readers, such as our conception of the “adult” and the “child” and their capacity for self-awareness, discovery, and transformation.
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