|
Jan
7
|
Posted by Christopher Waldrop
January 7, 2008 |
|
Don’t Tell The Grown-Ups: The Subversive Power of Children’s Literature by Alison Lurie explores the world of children’s literature, covering authors as diverse as Frances Hodgson Burnett and Richard Adams. Admittedly it’s no great revelation that there’s a distinctly subversive, or at least anti-adult, streak to works such as Peter Pan, although what is surprising is that J.M. Barrie was a more complicated, and certainly much stranger, character than the man Johnny Depp played in the film Finding Neverland. Lurie appropriately calls him “The Boy Who Couldn’t Grow Up”. And her essay on Beatrix Potter (one of my favorite authors when I was a kid) is absolutely fascinating. Lurie surveyed her st
udents, asking whether they’d rather be Peter Rabbit, who spent all day in Farmer MacGregor’s garden stuffing himself but got sent to bed without dinner while his siblings Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail ate blackberries for supper. Of course the students unanimously chose Peter. Potter herself was just as interesting. A talented artist as well as author, she used the profits from her books to escape controlling parents who didn’t think a young woman should do anything but sit in the corner and speak only when spoken to. Lurie even finds subversive elements in the world of A.A. Milne. At first it seems like a bit of a stretch that there would be even a slightly subversive streak in the wholesome world the The Hundred Acre Wood where Pooh, Tigger, and Piglet reside, and yet, as Lurie points out, Kanga and Owl, two of the “adult” animals, are, respectively, neurotic and illiterate. And then there’s Christopher Robin, who occupies an ambiguous position of neither adult nor child, a sort of demi-god of this tiny community.
Unfortunately Lurie’s not so enlightening with all authors. She crams J.R.R. Tolkien and T.H. White into a single chapter and, I think, does both a disservice. And as long as she’s talking about them, why not cover C.S. Lewis as well? And, as interesting as the chapters on them are, do any children read Edith Nesbitt or Kate Greenaway anymore?
She concludes the book with a chapter on the folklore of children, but, as a professor who 
taught classes on children’s literature, it would be interesting to have a follow-up volume exploring more contemporary authors. The youngest author she discusses is William Mayne, who was born in 1928. She begins her chapter on him by saying, “For a long time children’s books have been the black sheep of serious fiction…they are tended mainly by specialists, critics of popular culture, or nostalgic sentimentalists.” Including “nostalgic sentimentalists” in that list makes it almost sound like children’s literature isn’t being written anymore. It would be fascinating to read Lurie’s analysis of, say, J.K. Rowling, Judy Blume, or even Eric Carle. The subversiveness of Lemony Snicket, of course, is obvious…or is it? At the same time, though, such analysis might do as much harm as it does good. The fun of Lurie’s book is that the subversiveness of many of the authors she writes about either escaped notice or was politely overlooked, especially in prim and proper Victorian England. And, as her book’s title suggests, it was something children could, if they were conscious of it, believe they were keeping to themselves. It allowed them a little private space where they had power and respect. If we grown-ups went muscling in and telling kids we were in on the joke it wouldn’t be that funny anymore.
Comments
[…] online community. The best part is … it’s all 100% free! Check them out here: Join Hey Nielsen! Book ‘Em: What The Grown-Ups Don’t Know… saved by 1 others ShiningSeraph bookmarked on 01/07/08 | […]
Do children actually read books outside of school?
My niece does. She was very proud of herself when she first started reading books with chapters. And, although his Series of Unfortunate Events has now ended, Lemony Snicket’s appearances at bookstores used to attract hundreds of children who loved the books. I know books face a lot of competition from movies, video games, karate classes, guitar lessons, occasionally even school, and whatever the heck else kids are into these days, but there are still young readers.
[…] post by Just Write and software by Elliott Back This entry is filed under Joke of the day. You can follow any […]
[…] Book ???Em: What The Grown-Ups Don??t Know?? […]