Alison Bedford

Marion Gymnich

Denise Burkhard

Martin C. Kerby

Margaret M. Baguley

This book is grounded in the belief that every nation had its own ‘Great War’, and that children’s picture books are an important barometer of each country’s national approach. To explore the depiction of the Great War in modern Australian, British, and French children’s picture books, where this historical event is reimagined in different ways as a futile conflict, as a painful victory, and as part of one country’s founding mythology, this book uses the concept of the hero’s journey as an underlying framework. It claims that this monomythic pattern, as developed by Joseph Campbell and modified by Christopher Vogler, not only informs all picture books selected for this project but can also be used to highlight the extent to which modern children’s picture book authors and illustrators conform to their respective nation’s cultural memory. It further maintains that the specific historical context of the Great War in these children’s picture books can be used to identify a variant of the hero’s journey: the ‘ordinary soldier’s journey’. This analysis of children’s picture books about the Great War through the lens of Campbell’s hero’s journey will be of interest to both students and researchers in the fields of children’s literature, literary theory, history, cultural studies, and education.

Reimagining the Horrors of the Past

Variations of the Hero's Journey in Contemporary British, French and Australian Picture Books about the Great War

Childhood in neo-Victorian fiction for both child and adult readers is an extremely multifaceted and fascinating field. This book argues that neo-Victorian fiction projects multiple, competing visions of childhood and suggests that they can be analysed by means of a typology, the 'childhood scale', which provides different categories along the lines of power relations, and literary possible-worlds theory. The usefulness of both is exemplified by detailed discussions of Philippa Pearce's "Tom's Midnight Garden" (1958), Eva Ibbotson's "Journey to the River Sea" (2001), Sarah Waters' "Fingersmith" (2002) and Dianne Setterfield's "The Thirteenth Tale" (2006).

(Re-)Constructions of Childhood in Neo-Victorian Fiction

Exploited, Empowered, Ephemeral

Hanne Birk

Exploring J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Universe

"Harry - Yer a Wizard"

J. K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series (1997–2007) has turned into a global phenomenon and her Potterverse is still expanding. The contributions in this volume provide a range of inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to various dimensions of this multifacetted universe. The introductory article focuses on different forms of world building in the novels, the translations, the film series and the fandom. Part I examines various potential sources for Rowling's series in folklore, the Arthurian legend and Gothic literature. Further articles focus on parallels between the "Harry Potter" series and Celtic Druidism, the impact Victorian notions of gender roles have had on the representation of the Gaunt family, the reception of (medieval and Early Modern) history in the series and the influence of Christian concepts on the world view expressed in the novels. Part II focuses on a range of prominent political and social themes in the series, including conspiracy, persecution and terror, racism as well as the role of economic, social and cultural capital. Other articles explore the concept of a Magical Criminal Law and its consequences as well as the significance of secrets and forbidden places. The articles in Part III go beyond the novels by taking the stage play "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child", the movie "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", Pottermore and fan fiction into account. Main topics in this part include trauma theory/PTSD, queerbaiting, a 'post'-colonial analysis of the representation of Native Americans in Rowling's "History of Magic in North America" and the depiction of violence, incest and rape in fan fictions. The concluding article highlights the diversification of the Potterverse and analyses strategies informing its ongoing expansion.

"Harry – yer a wizard"

In J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" (1937), Erebor is both the ancient home of the dwarves, which has been conquered and is now occupied by the dragon Smaug, and the destination of the quest of thirteen dwarves and a hobbit, who aim at regaining Erebor from the claws of the dragon. On their way to the mountain, the dwarves constantly remember the old days in which their ancestors mined and crafted beautiful objects inside the walls of Erebor. Their thoughts are, however, frequently overshadowed by concerns about Smaug, who transformed the dwarf kingdom into a dragon hoard and is now sleeping on the gold. Denise Burkhard delves into Tolkien's children's novel and Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit" trilogy (2012–2014) and explores the depiction of Erebor. The analysis focuses on the dwarves' reconstruction of the old kingdom, the ideas of home and belonging in the context of the dwarves' diasporic situation as well as on the destruction and the reshaping(s) of the mountain. The adverse depictions of Erebor as dwarf kingdom and dragon hoard are examined by having a closer look at the dwarves, the sinister dragon and the enormous hoard in the novel as well as in Peter Jackson's audio-visual interpretations.

Denise Burkhard

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