Book dossier

Children's literature

by Karin Lesnik-Oberstein

Children's Literature: Criticism and the Fictional Child is an original and lucid study of the figure of the 'child' as it is presented in the rapidly expanding field of the criticism of children's literature. The book argues that in fact this same body of criticism - through often contradictory versions of the 'child' - reveals the realm of 'childhood' as one constructed by adult critics. Karin Lesnik-Oberstein demonstrates that both this criticism and the texts it studies are underpinned by the narratives of the liberal arts' educational ideals and their attendant socio-political and personal ideologies. The author sets literary discussion into the context of current wider debates about childhood psychology and psychotherapy. This lively polemic represents a significant rethinking of 'childhood' and approaches to children's literature.