Issue Details: First known date: 2004... 2004 Subversion or Socialization? : Humour and Carnival in Morris Gleitzman's Texts
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"Like their counterparts elsewhere, Australian children favour humorous novels; comedic writers consistently dominate the preteen and early teen fiction market in Australia. Regardless of its popularity, however, in comparison to more serious writing, humorous literature has received little critical attention. Of the studies aimed at this area, most have tended to concentrate on the various stages of development in childrens preferences for humor, its strategies, forms and appeal, with very few examining the ideological assumptions informing particular texts. Yet, this article argues, humorous books are no less concerned with culture, value and meaning than any other kind of fiction for children. As Morris Gleitzmans texts illustrate, by highlighting the cultural processes involved in the construction of language and meaning, inviting readers to play with ideas about language, social roles and behaviors, and creating characters who act in ways which are oppositional to usual socializing expectations, humorous literature, especially in carnivalized forms, has the potential to problematize unquestioning acceptance of various ideological para-digms, values, social practices and rules."

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Last amended 17 Jun 2011 10:41:29
367-379 Subversion or Socialization? : Humour and Carnival in Morris Gleitzman's Textssmall AustLit logo Children's Literature in Education
Subjects:
  • Bumface Morris Gleitzman , 1998 single work children's fiction
  • Teacher's Pet Morris Gleitzman , 2003 single work children's fiction
  • Water Wings Morris Gleitzman , 1996 single work novel
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