scholarly journals The Story of Coraline(s): A Gothic Coming of Age

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-40
Author(s):  
J. Javier Torres-Fernández

This study deals with Coraline (2002), the novel by Neil Gaiman, and Coraline (2009), the animated adaptation directed by Henry Selick based on Gaiman’s book. While Gothic stories often emphasize and question human morality, children’s literature usually holds a moralizing value. Neil Gaiman’s Coraline presents a story within the genre of children’s literature that seems to be deeply rooted in the Gothic tradition. Some of the fundamental gothic elements in Coraline’s story are the presence of ghosts, grotesque beings, and the existence of a parallel and dark universe that serves as the setting for the story. Coraline deals with anxieties related with personal development, growing up, and the environments that surround her. Gothic content within both the book and the film contribute to the undermining of the idealization of Coraline’s family, her own process of growing up, and her coping with moving to a completely different place. The creation of the gothic world is exploited in both works to represent Coraline’s coming-of-age experience and her conflict with her family. However, despite Selick’s film being a faithful and well-delivered adaptation of Gaiman’s novel, there are considerable differences that affect how the audience interprets Coraline as a character and her story, which this analysis will highlight.

Think India ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 160-165
Author(s):  
R. Adhithya ◽  
N. Latha

This paper tends to make a study on the narrative technique which is an indivisible part of the novel which has been employed by Roald Dahl in his children’s novel. As the value of narrative technique lies in its appropriate usage as per the need, Dahl employed the right technique at the right place which conveyed his wonderful ideas to the readers and make them feel magical. Though there are various narrative devices applied by the novelists to explain, explore and objectify their themes or ideology. Dahl perfectly familiar with these narrative devices is essential for the creation, imagination as well as better understanding of fiction. Roald Dahl, being the world’s number one story teller of 20thcentury children’s literature used the techniques which pulls the reader attention into his novels.


Author(s):  
Georgy A. Veligorsky ◽  

In this article we will talk about the unusual topos that occurs in Victorian and Edwardian literature — the “revived” estate. Indirectly going back to Gothic literature and the “horror literature” that inherited it (where the house can come to life literally, become harmful, frightening and even mortally dangerous for the inhabitant), however, it develops in a completely different way. The ghosts that inhabit the rooms of such a mansion are the guardians of a good and bright memory, “hidden joy”; embodied by the past, who lives in a shaky, invisible world. These ghosts have many hypostases: sometimes they turn out to be just a figment of the tenant’s imagination, and sometimes they are a real poltergeist, but not frightening, but protecting and preserving (W. Woolf, “A Haunted House”). Another manifestation of this topos can be called a house that comes to life, when the hero distinguishes between the beating of his heart (as happens in the novel by E.M. Forster “Howards End”) or hears a whisper of voices in the curtains shaken by the wind. The combination of these two motives (poltergeist and living house) is also found in the works of modernists (W. Woolf, “Orlando: A Biography”). Of particular interest is the image of a revived estate house in children’s literature; in this vein, we will consider the novel by Ph. Pierce, “Tom’s Midnight Garden”.


Target ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Weissbrod

Abstract Beginning in the late nineteenth century, Hebrew underwent a process of revival. Despite the growing stratification of the language, literary translations into Hebrew were governed by a norm which dictated the use of an elevated style rooted in ancient Hebrew texts. This norm persisted at least until the 1960s. Motivated by the Hebrew tradition of employing the elevated style to produce the mock-epic, translators created mock-epic works independently of the source texts. This article describes the creation of the mock-epic in canonized and non canonized adult and children's literature, focusing on the Hebrew versions of Henry Fielding's Joseph Andrews, Damon Runyon's Guys and Dolls, Peter O'Donnell's Modesty Blaise and A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner.


Author(s):  
A. Ashimbaeva ◽  
◽  
Z. Tursynali ◽  
S. Sabigazina ◽  
◽  
...  

The article tells that the main character traits are laid in childhood. It is during this period of growing up that a worldview and ideas about morality are formed, one of the main sources of which, of course, is children's literature. It is for this reason that, over time, people began to understand the need for the existence of works especially for children. Modern children's prose is developing, transforming, no worse than the one that was before. The problems of the past are being replaced by more urgent and fresh ones. The works of the latest children's literature are a treasure trove of the most important diverse information that you need to be able to reveal, discern, and read between the lines. Thus, the latest literature pushes us ourselves to seek morality, hidden meaning, which leads to the development of various spheres of personality. Today children's literature begins to return to its main task - the ethical education of the younger generation. Writers talk about morality, morality, mutual understanding between parents and children.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 87
Author(s):  
Nur Cahyati ◽  
Heny Friantary ◽  
Ixsir Eliya

Children's literature produced in Indonesia it self is not too much and studies are rarely carried out. Therefore, it is important to have an assessment of children's literature, especially novels. The research objective was to describe the building blocks in Okky Madasari's Mata di Tanah Melus novel. The approach used in this research is a structuralism approach. The research method used content analysis method. The data source is the novel Mata di Tanah Melus by Okky Madasari. The research time was carried out for one month. Data collection techniques using library techniques. The data collection instrument was the novel Mata di Tanah Melus by Okky Madasari. The data validity technique uses credibility testing techniques, namely increasing persistence and using reference materials. Data analysis in this study used Miles and Huberman's analysis model, namely data collection, data reduction, data presentation, and conclusions. The results showed that the building blocks found in the novel Mata di Tanah Melus, namely the facts of the story in the form of a forward plot. The main character is Matara, the supporting character consists of 18 people, the white character consists of 5 people, and the black character is the Hunters. The setting consists of 17 places. The time setting occurs in the morning, noon, and night. The socio-cultural background raises the culture of the Melus Tribe. The theme raised in the novel Mata di Tanah Melus is the theme of humanity. The means of the story are titles and points of view. The title of the novel contains two meanings and experiences semantic distortion. The point of view used is the main actor's first person point of view


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-136
Author(s):  
Aleksey O. Kostylev

The article is devoted to the discussion around the fairy tale, which found a place in the magazine «On the Way to a New School», the newspaper «Reader & Writer», its main provisions. In the 1920s pedagogues and children’s writers headed by Nadezhda Krupskaya revised old children’s literature and studied the theory of a new Soviet book for children, publishing articles and reviews. The connection between work in children’s literature and ideology, anti-religious propaganda is traced. Attention is drawn to the discussion of the category of the fantastic in a fairy tale among the authors of «On the Way to a New School», «Reader & Writer». Examples of new literature for children, its differences and similarities with the previous one are given. Andrei Platonov could also have known about the discussion around the genre of a fairy tale in 1926–1927 after moving to Moscow, as indicated by the epistolary, biographical facts and works of art, in particular the story «The Ethereal Path», the poem «About Electricity». The episodes from the novel «Chevengur» are considered in the context of this discussion.


Author(s):  
Iryna Kushnir,

In the article the problem of the childhood in the novel “Margherita Dolcevita” by S. Benni has been studied. The well-known Italian author shows the particular situation when the child comes into collision with the world of adults for the first time. That’s why the main character 15-year-old Margherita became an active adolescent who fights for her family and the main family values. The narrative subjectified child’s “I” reflects the world-view of the XXI century where adults are enchanted by the power of consumerism. Margherita struggles for salvation of the family because she is the only child who can find forces to resist the evil in his own pure soul. The process of modeling of the childhood world is accomplished due to the symbolization of the home space as hearth in contrast with modern soulless neighbors’ world embodied by their black house. Margherita became the core to assemble all generations of her family together. The following microdominants of modeling of the childhood world have been defined: existential dimension of home and family, discontinued connection between family generations, the way to self-identity through the life trials and growing up. The formal peculiarities of the novels such as visuality, unity of composition, burning conflict to show as if from within a difficult emotional and psychological situation in which the character is found have been investigated. This novel by its title “Margherita Dolcevita” gives the child answer to the challenge of the world which she would like to preserve as kind and joyful. The studied novel is rated between the best examples of literature on child’s problems and childhood. Unfortunately this writer remains quite unknown to Ukrainian audience. This fact shows the topicality of this research.


2020 ◽  
pp. 146879842096494
Author(s):  
Catarina Schmidt

The importance of supporting children’s reading engagement and reading comprehension from the early years is widely acknowledged, particular for children growing up in areas characterized by socioeconomic challenges. This mission is collectively shared by teachers and librarians, although with differing starting points and responsibilities. This paper draws on a Swedish study of librarians’ book talks with eight-year-old students in Grade 2 and their teachers, and the views these participants express on reading and children’s literature. The methods used were observation and interview. In the analysis, different views appear regarding what reading is and might mean, such as the role that children’s literature plays in this. The results indicate two prominent narratives regarding reading, where one has a clear emphasis on being able to read and where the other stresses the pleasure of reading. Both these discourses display a narrowness regarding genres other than fiction literature, languages other than Swedish, and formats other than printed books. Further, an image of the reading child as an individual reader appears in both discourses. The results highlight the need for a broader approach that integrates functional reading with processes of reflection and active language use, drawing on the content in children’s literature, with an awareness of multilingual considerations. It is argued that children’s literature plays an important role in children developing a view of themselves as readers, and discovering that there are many ways to be a reader.


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