Leading through Reading in Contemporary Young Adult Fantasy by Philip Pullman and Terry Pratchett

2016 ◽  
pp. 127-146
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Rose Gruner
Mousaion ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 28-40
Author(s):  
Dewald Mauritz Steyn

In this article, the author argues that Markus Zusak and Terry Pratchett make use of metafictional strategies as well as their respective anthropomorphic figures of death to allow readers, particularly young ones, to confront difficult topics, providing them with a glimpse of truth as far as their own mortality is concerned. In Zusak’s The Book Thief (2005) and Pratchett’s The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (2001), death, war and the nature of evil are considered through a fictional lens, allowing a certain amount of distancing between the young reader and these painful realities. Without naively underplaying the actuality of death, Zusak and Pratchett show how stories can ameliorate the traumatic and anxiety-inducing aspects of such events. Zusak challenges people’s notions of what young adult literature can portray, while Pratchett focuses on what it means not only to be a human being, but an ethical sentient being.


2003 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare Walsh

This article undertakes a comparative analysis of two trilogies written for a young adult readership: the Tripods trilogy by John Christopher (1967-8) and the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman (1995-2000). Both trilogies can be described as science fiction/fantasy Bildungsromans which centre on attempts by adults or surrogate adult figures to thwart the rite of passage from childhood to adulthood for their young protagonists. Contrary to what one might expect, the figurative language used in the texts which comprise the trilogies comes relatively high on Goatly's cline of 'metaphoricity' (Goatly, 1997: 11), partly because of the incorporation of an `open' address in Pullman's case and partly because of the wide-ranging intertextual allusions employed by both writers. In addition, I argue that in common with other dystopian architexts both trilogies exhibit a marked tendency to blur the boundaries between the metaphorical, the metonymic and the literal and, more specifically, that the `cognitive estrangement' intrinsic to the genre of sf leads readers to interpret metaphorically objects and processes that are literal in the world(s) of the text. Finally, I conclude with the view that both Christopher and Pullman offer empowering subject positions to their young protagonists and, by extension, to their young adult readers, with the clear aim of encouraging them to move beyond the circumscribed world of childhood inexperience.


2020 ◽  
pp. 184-208
Author(s):  
Jean Perrot

This essay has a twofold purpose: to consider the issues of contemporary Young Adult literature addressed to “the children of the videosphere” within the context of globalized culture and to assess the importance of postmodern Baroque aesthetics in the “Star Wars” system of modern Letters and mass-media. Writers often resort to such aesthetics with the prospect of commercial hegemony, but some of them find their “distinction” (in Pierre Bourdieu’s delineation) through intertextuality – be it avowed or hidden – with the great masters of the past (William Blake and John Milton). We will investigate the secret workshop of Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials Trilogy and some of his other works, as well as Jostein Gaarder’s Sophie’s World and diverse literary productions. With their arresting butterflies as significant baroque emblems, these works provide a new and spellbounding vision of the Western hero and offer a new “reterritorialization” of Letters. More particularly, Philip Pullman’s literary gesture has been to extract the baroque message from the vulgarised versions of popular mass media and to give it a new distinction.Key words: Postmodern baroque, William Blake, picaresque, humour, parody, Philip Pullman, Jostein Gaarder.


Author(s):  
Roberta M. Bruck

An unusual structure in the cochlea is the spiral limbus; this periosteal tissue consists of stellate fibroblasts and collagenous fibers embedded in a translucent ground substance. The collagenous fibers are arranged in vertical columns (the auditory teeth of Haschke). Between the auditory teeth are interdental furrows in which the interdental cells are situated. These epithelial cells supposedly secrete the tectorial membrane.The fine structure of interdental cells in the rat was reported by Iurato (1962). Since the mouse appears to be different, a description of the fine structure of mouse interdental cells' is presented. Young adult C57BL/6J mice were perfused intervascularly with 1% paraformaldehyde/ 1.25% glutaraldehyde in .1M phosphate buffer (pH7.2-7.4). Intact cochlea were decalcified in .1M EDTA by the method of Baird (1967), postosmicated, dehydrated, and embedded in Araldite. Thin sections stained with uranyl acetate and lead citrate were examined in a Phillips EM-200 electron microscope.


Author(s):  
Arne Göring ◽  
Malte Jetzke ◽  
Sabrina Rudolph

Zusammenfassung. Hintergrund und Ziel: Gegenüber dem Bevölkerungsdurchschnitt liegen die Prävalenzraten alkoholbezogener Störungen von Studierenden deutlich über dem Durchschnitt der nichtstudentischen Bevölkerung. Bislang existieren in Deutschland keine Studien zur Frage, welchen Einfluss sportliche Aktivitäten auf die Ausprägung alkoholbezogener Störungen bei Studierenden besitzen. Die vorliegende Studie untersucht diesen Zusammenhang bei Studierenden einer deutschen Volluniversität. Methodik: Im Rahmen einer repräsentativen Onlinestudie wurden 1383 Studierende einer deutschen Universität zu ihrem Alkoholkonsum, den damit verbundenen sozialen Folgen und ihren sportlichen Aktivitäten befragt. Als Instrument kam der 27 Items umfassende Young Adult Alcohol Problems Screening Test sowie ein Erhebungsverfahren zur Erfassung der habituellen sportlichen Aktivität zum Einsatz. Ergebnisse: Studierende, die regelmäßig und intensiv sportlich aktiv sind, weisen eine höhere Screeningrate für alkoholbezogene Störungen auf als Studierende, die gar nicht oder nur unregelmäßig aktiv sind. Dieser Zusammenhang gilt insbesondere für Mannschaftssportarten, aber auch für Fitnessaktivitäten. Schlussfolgerungen: Die Ergebnisse der Studie bestätigen amerikanische Forschungsbeiträge, die sportliche Aktivitäten bei Studierenden als einen Treiber für den Alkoholkonsum identifizieren. Sportorganisationen im Umfeld von Hochschulen sollten in der Alkoholprävention an Hochschulen zukünftig eine größere Berücksichtigung finden.


2011 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Urska Agrez ◽  
Christa Winkler Metzke ◽  
Hans-Christoph Steinhausen
Keyword(s):  

Zusammenfassung. Der Young Adult Self-Report (YASR) erfasst behaviorale und emotionale Symptome bei jungen Erwachsenen im Alter von 18 bis 30 Jahre. Das Hauptziel der vorliegenden Studie war die Überprüfung der psychometrischen Qualität der deutschen Version des YASR auf der Basis von Daten aus einer großen epidemiologischen Stichprobe junger Erwachsener in der Schweiz (N = 951; Durchschnittsalter = 19.8, SD = 1.6; 56.3% Frauen). Die syndromale Struktur der amerikanischen Originalversion wurde in den Stichprobendaten mittels konfirmatorischer Faktorenanalyse gut repliziert. Mit Ausnahme der Skala Schizoid/zwanghaftes Denken sind alle Skalen für Forschungszwecke ausreichend zuverlässig. Aufgrund mangelnder interner Konsistenz einzelner Skalen müssen individuelle Testergebnisse mit Vorsicht interpretiert werden.


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