Issue Details: First known date: 1998... vol. 8 no. 2 August 1998 of Papers : Explorations into Children's Literature est. 1990 Papers : Explorations into Children's Literature
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Contents

* Contents derived from the , 1998 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Editorial, Clare Bradford , single work column
Bradford introduces this edition of Papers by engaging with Peter Hunt's representation of current research and teaching practices in children's literature. Drawing attention to the binarized approach which frames Hunt's descriptions, Bradford argues that Hunt tends to over-generalize and oversimplify the variety and scope of children's literature scholarship, stating '...the study of boooks of the past, far from being 'essentially abstract and inward looking' (Hunt, 202), is capable of informing our understanding of the practices, ideologies and cultural formations which produced these books and which teach us about the implied child reader...' (4). Bradford challenges Hunt's categorisation with a short but concise discussion of A Mother's Offering to Her Children (1841).
(p. 3-4)
In the Service of Infinite and Glorious Creation: The Nature Writing of Louisa Anne Meredith, Kordula Dunscombe , single work criticism
Dunscombe discuss the work of Louisa Anne Meredith positing that the attention she gives to the natural environment in her novels has an 'overt conservationist message' (17) and engages with issues of domination, exploitation and general disrespect for the environment. Dunscombe argues that Meredith 'strove to foster in her readers a multi-dimensional appreciation of the natural world, encompassing emotional, spiritual, ethical, aesthetic, cultural scientific and practical understandings' (16). Dunscombe admires Meredith's work as an example of 19th century environmentalism and also for Merediths awareness and foregrounding 'of her less than authoratative status as woman and author' (as opposed to the more authoratitive position of male-professional environmentalist). Dunscombe believes that 'Meredith's well-established commkitment to close personal observation is the backbone of her scientific approach' (24) while her 'earnest purpose is to 'inculcate a love and respect for nature by using all the means at her disposal' (29).
(p. 16-30)
Ethnicity, Agency, and Cultural Identity : Nexus and Difference in Australian Youth Films, Robyn McCallum , single work criticism
McCallum is interested in texts which deal with narratives of migration and cultural difference and representations of social and cultural diversity in children's literature, as '...attempts in film and literature to represent cultural diversity in Australian society are apt to proceed through quotation of iconic and stereo-typed images of difference...' (40). She analyses three Australian films, No Worries, Captain Johnno, and On Loan and argues that fundamentally the 'representations of social and cultural difference are ideologically shaped by an overarching metanarrative of subject formation which stresses the value of intersubjective relationships as a way of overcoming the alienation that occurs from cultural, social and physical displacement' (46).
(p. 40-47)
X