Comparative Children's Literature

Childrens literature has transcended linguistic and cultural borders sincebooks and magazines for young readers were first produced with popular bookstranslated... » 

Childrens literature has transcended linguistic and cultural borders sincebooks and magazines for young readers were first produced with popular bookstranslated throughout the world. Emer OSullivan traces the history ofcomparative childrens literature studies from the enthusiasticinternationalism of the postwar period which set out from the idea of asupranational world republic of childhood to modern comparative criticism.Drawing on the scholarship and childrens literature of many cultures andlanguages she outlines the constituent areas that structure the fieldincluding contact and transfer studies intertextuality studies intermedialitystudies and image studies. In doing so she provides the first comprehensiveoverview of this exciting new research area. Comparative ChildrensLiterature also links the fields of narratology and translation studies todevelop an original and highly valuable communicative model of translation.Taking in issues of childrens classics the canon and world literature forchildren Comparative Childrens Literature reveals that this branch ofliterature is not as genuinely international as it is often fondly assumed tobe and is essential reading for those interested in the consequences ofglobalization on childrens literature and culture. «