Children's Fantasy Literature (ENGL3664)
Semester 1 / 2012

Texts

Harry potter and the Philosopher's Stone!$!Rowling, J.K.!$! !$!!$!
The Witches!$!Dahl, Roald!$! !$!!$!
Peter Pan!$!Barrie, J.M.!$! !$!Puffin!$!2008
Only You Can Save mankind!$!Pratchett, Terry!$! !$!!$!
Howl's Moving Castle!$!Wynne-Jones, Diana!$! !$!!$!
y separately published work icon Tensy Farlow and the Home for Mislaid Children Jen Storer , Camberwell : Penguin , 2009 Z1615694 2009 single work children's fiction children's (taught in 1 units)

'Dumped in the River Charon, hunted by an acursed river creature and betrayed by the wicked Matron Pluckrose, Tensy Farlow is in mortal danger. She has no parents. Worse still, she has no guardian angel.

'When she is thrown into the Home for Mislaid Children - a gloomy orphanage where ravens attack, Watchers hover over your bed, and even the angels cannot be trusted - it seems that all hope is lost.

'Yet could it be that a plucky, flame-haired orphan with a mysterious past is precisely what this dark world needs?' (From the publisher's website.)

Wizard of Earthsea!$!Le Guin, Ursula!$! !$!Puffin!$!
Five Children and It!$!Nebit, Edith!$! !$!!$!1902
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland!$!Carroll, Lewis!$! !$!!$!
Indian in the Cupboard!$!Banks, Lynne Reid!$! !$!!$!

Description

Examines fantasy literature for children and young adults from the "Golden Age" in the late nineteenth century to the present time. We will consider such issues as ideas of the hero and the child’s sense of identity; attitudes to race and power and other areas of broader cultural concern; the location of imaginary spaces; and the values attached to art and the imagination.

The course will cover the relationships between children’s fantasy literature and both past and contemporary societal norms. It will examine the influence of Romanticism in childhood, the Victorian child and fantasy, the fantastic sublime, trauma and fantasy, fantasy and humour. In addition, the course will include discussion of the role of imperialism and ideas of the Other, and notions of resistance, freedom and power in fantasy literature for children.

Assessment

Essays / Written Assignments 1000-word minor essay 20%

2000-word major essay 40%

Journal Journal entries 40%

Other Details

Current Campus: Ourimbah
Levels: Undergraduate
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