Author: Zhang Shengzhen (Professor, Doctoral Supervisor, Beijing Language and Culture University)
English literature occupies an important position on the map of world literature, and British children's literature also has an important influence. It is rich in content and diverse in genre, and its main genres of children's literature have been greatly developed.
Children's literature in the modern sense originated in Britain. In 1744, the British publisher John Newberry began to publish children's books on a large scale, an event that is seen as the beginning of a historically conscious children's literature publishing career. The birth of the 19th century "Alice" novel and the 20th century "Harry Potter" novel made the Creation of British Children's Literature the main creative trend that affected the world. English literature and Britain's deep literary tradition have profoundly influenced the development of its children's literature. As an important part of European literature, British children's literature follows the value system of English literature, influences the formation and development of British native literature and culture, and creates its special historical status and social value. Whether it's a children's literature classic or a newly created work, British children's literature seems to have been exerting a lasting world influence. British children's literature is not only widely read and loved by child readers, but also sought after by adult readers.
1. Advanced children's concept and creative concept
The continuous evolution of the British concept of children is closely related to factors such as the level of social development in the United Kingdom and the understanding of children. Historically, from the Puritanist view of "soul purification" religious children, to John Locke's naïve materialist view of children's education, to Jean Piaget's view of children's psychological cognitive development, and then to the psychoanalytic school's fairy tale psychology vision, to the aesthetic art concept and educational function concept of contemporary children's literature, people's cognition of children's mental life state, psychological development characteristics and physical and mental growth process has always been in the process of continuous exploration and deepening. From the beginning of Locke's advocacy of the concept of children gradually developed to take the child as the subject, worship and praise the child, give play to the child's subjectivity, not only to shape the child as a successor, but also to portray the initiative as a leader and innovator. Based on this view of children, successive generations of children's literature writers have created many works of children's literature with depth and thought. Beginning with the children's books published by John Newbury in the 1740s, 19th-century writers created children's literature that was child-centered, child-growing, and truly children's literature— works of classic artistic quality that shaped modern British children's literature. British children's literature has developed greatly in the 20th century and has maintained a prosperous development after entering the 21st century.
The Legend of Narnia's Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe data picture
Britain attaches great importance to children's literature, this "give the best to children" children's view and children's literature concept, that is, the best advanced ideas and artistic qualities into the creation of children's literature, so that British children's literature will not be created in order to cater to the market. Its creators take mature, responsible and mission-minded writers, researchers, educators, etc. as the main body, and their profound understanding of children, the appropriate pulse of literary value, the high aesthetic pursuit and the psychological portrayal of skillful application have created conditions for the emergence of excellent children's literature. Some writers are also critics, researchers, educators, and even librarians, familiar with the laws of children's literature creation and understand the needs of readers, they silently integrate the expectations and needs of adults into the practice of children's literature creation, and also integrate child-centered concepts into creation.
British children's literature and the great literary tradition go in opposite directions, and while constantly absorbing its essence, they also have a corresponding dialogue with it at all times. The dissolution of the author's authority and the disappearance of the author's voice in children's literature, that is, the de-author-centered post-structuralist idea is a response to the reader-centered trend of thought. The enrichment and innovation of children's literature creation practice have also promoted the prosperity and controversy of children's literature criticism. When excellent children's literature continues to arouse the interest of adults in reading, it also has the possibility of becoming the object of literary research. Literary criticism also reacts to literary creation, promotes the reflection or innovation of writers, and the cooperation between critics and writers, readers, publishing houses, etc. provides possibilities and conditions for creating classic children's literature works.
British children's literature carries the common feelings and values of the English nation, and while celebrating national consciousness, it is also promoting the worldwide dissemination of its national consciousness and national ideas. Not only that, it also has a strong ability to construct, which not only shapes the British national character and national consciousness, but also stimulates the spirit of inheritance and responsibility of young people. The british people's sense of pride and superiority, the sense of frustration and distress after the two world wars, and the ideal of trying to restructure their authority are all infiltrated into children's literature, forming a unique temperament and spiritual outlook of British children's literature.
2. The tradition of paying great attention to real problems
British children's literature continues to grow and develop on the long tradition of realist literature in the country. Its realist heritage is not only an extension of maturity and gloomy temperament, but also means giving people the spirit of critical and independent thinking.
Charles Dickens led the tradition of realist children's literature, using the "Tribulation-Growth" style of childhood writing to present upheaval times and turbulent realities. His works "Orphans of the Mist" (1837), "Great Prospects" (1861), "Our Mutual Friends" (1865), etc., aim to arouse people's attention to children's issues and social issues by revealing the problems of orphans, child labor, and welfare home system in Britain. Another important practical concern of Dickens was the English legal system, which includes procedural and substantive law. If Pickwick 's Tales ( 1837 ) was an exposé of the absurdity of English common law procedures , then Bleak House ( 1853 ) was a relentless mockery of The English process of equity. As for the Poor Law, promulgated in 1601 and amended in 1834, Dickens did his best to criticize and flogg.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone profile picture
Since the 20th century, some children's literature writers continue to be based on the real world, and their creations touch more fields such as industrial pollution, ecological disasters, mental trauma, etc., especially after experiencing the baptism of world wars and scientific and technological revolutions, British children's literature pays more attention to the writing of social issues, including juvenile delinquency, emotional problems and the transformation of parenthood and role distribution in the family. Taking the theme of ecological disaster as an example, Ted Hughes presents in Iron Man (1968) and Iron Woman (1993) the serious environmental pollution and the resulting social problems. And Sasi Lloyd's Carbon Diary 2015 (2008) and sequel Carbon Diary 2017 (2009) are set in the future of London and reveal serious and intractable social and ecological issues, especially the significant changes in the way societies function and human beings survive through climate change. Consistent with many teenage novels of the same genre, the two "carbon diaries", although not explicitly promoting "environmentalism", do criticize human acts of destruction of the natural environment in a more covert way.
In addition, British children's literature writers also rely on the forms of British fantasy literature initiated by Lewis Carroll to reflect on the real world, such as C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia series (1950-1956) which reflects on the issue of war, and Philip Pullman's Dark Matter (1995-2000) trilogy, which reveals the crisis of faith and spiritual crisis encountered in the Western world. J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter (1997-2007) series reflects many real-world issues, such as racial discrimination, sexism, abuse of power, judicial darkness, school bullying, and so on. Both the realist children's literature tradition and the imaginative fantasy literature are constantly injecting vitality and aura into British children's literature.
3. Hero narrative combined with micro narrative
Epics, fairy tales, folk songs, fantasy literature, realist novels, etc. not only focus on grand national historical events and heroic characters, but also portray many ordinary small characters. For example, in the Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings (1954, 1955) or the Harry Potter series, the protagonists are all on a major mission, either to save a country or to save the wizarding world, but these protagonists have their own personality "weaknesses". In terms of narrative tone, these works have both epic narratives (such as the appearance of the Lion King of Aslan always has a heroism similar to Beowulf) and the individual narrative style of small characters. British children's literature combines the two, while examining grand issues, but also paying attention to the appeal and expression of individuals, making the works three-dimensional and intriguing.
"Orphans of the Mist" book cover information picture
"Great Prospects" book cover information picture
Carbon Diary 2015 book cover profile image
Dark Matter's Northern Lights data image
Unique narrative techniques – such as the dual narrative process (implicit narrative process and explicit narrative process) – provide the possibility of deep narrative, not only the storyline is fully developed, but the tension between contradictions and conflicts and human nature can also be further elaborated and deepened. Unlike Chinese children's literature, which is dominated by a single text, British children's literature writers specialize in writing series of stories such as The Chronicles of Narnia, Dark Matter, and Harry Potter. The series of works provides the possibility of complex narratives, but also provides a guarantee for the depth and thickness of the works, it has the narrative and aesthetic value of attracting readers, extremely charming, has become an important part of the creation of British children's literature.
In recent years, the interlacing of time and space in the narrative of British children's literature has also led to philosophical reflections on time and space. Children's readers are highly receptive to concepts such as folded time, three-dimensional space, and four-dimensional living things. Elements that travel freely through time and space can be seen everywhere: alice's rabbit hole and magic mirror, Harry Potter's 9 platforms, the wardrobe in the Narnia series, etc. are all spaces independent of real time and space. What is more interesting is that in such a space, time is folded, no matter how much time is spent in this folded time and space, the protagonists can eventually return to real life through a certain node. This kind of time and space shuttle gives authors and readers great freedom to create and read imagination.
With the global spread of the English language, Britain's overseas colonial expansion and the translation of literary works, British children's literature has been widely circulated and gradually established its world influence. A large number of British children's literature works have been accepted, adapted or imitated by other countries, which has influenced the development of children's literature in other countries. These translations greatly elevated the international status of British children's literature. In turn, British children's literature has benefited from a large number of translations of foreign children's literature. All in all, British children's literature has received great attention or general recognition around the world for its unique creative traditions, narrative paradigms, aesthetic pursuits and spiritual temperament, and is loved by adults and children in many countries.
Guangming Daily (2022.04.21. 13th edition)
Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily