Many adults would consider children’s literature with a little bit of cynicism – aren’t children’s stories really didactic aphorisms cloaked in fanciful wordplays and fairytale sceneries? As soon as reality sinks in that everything isn’t exactly what is said in the storybooks, we move on into ‘matters of consequence’ (as Exupery would put it). This is because the unreal-world lessons of storybooks have lost its charm, and it’s too late to go back once you’ve tasted the bitter fruit of reality. This is what the Norton’s Anthology of Children’s Literature aims to expose, at least in part. Its primary aim is noble: it shows how children’s literature has evolved from the didactic to the liberating, through excerpts and expositions. And what an impressive collection of excerpts it has – 2,200 pages of 350 years of literature, covering works of 170 writers and illustration artists. It’ll take some time before you chew your way through this.
And it’s for adults, mind you, as there are excerpts which won’t amuse your unassuming child. The anthology traces the development of the genre throughout the years, and is told in a scholarly, yet non-alienating tone, so your reading experience is tinged with multifarious emotions – awe, disgust, contempt, amusement, even terror, and everything in between. The book’s editor-in-chief, Jack Zipes, has the credentials to back up such a monumental effort – he has authored more than fifty books with a breadth of range in literature, but this recent work proves to be a landmark in the academic study of children’s literature. Pooling in the services of over 800 contributors, you’d be hard pressed to believe that so much can be compressed within a relatively small space.
To quote an excerpt in here seems to be a travesty, since there are over three thousand entries within the book, spanning over three centuries of literature, and comprehensively covering for more cultures than were ever thought possible. And all efforts were made to dispel the ambiguity which comes with the entries as well, as it is dedicated to this postmodern age where there are no clear-cut dualities and, everything lies within the gray areas of truth and falsity. The passages are buried under a heap of commentary, with the intent of putting each in its proper sociological, cultural, historical, and semantic context. Most of these look seem like disillusionments at the outset, but the anthology was never meant to keep you in a bubble anyway, so a dose of reality-check should be more than welcome.
The picture which the anthology paints is bleak to say the least; cutting down all your cherished childhood memories of bedtime stories into pieces is surely unsettling for many people. But it is admittedly neo-rationalist (if there is such a term); while a more rational world is definitely welcome, it is by all means not necessary. Childhood is a phase which only adults can mold, no matter what pundits may say to the contrary. There is a hidden motivation contained in children’s literature to condition the child’s mind to agree with the norm, and the anthology goes so far as to challenge that norm by stating the obvious – there is no redemption apart from what we believe it should be. It’s a potentially dangerous thought which we would do best to get rid of.
