British children's literature: "Give the best to children"
British literature occupies an important position on the world literature map, and British children's literature also has an important influence.
It has the characteristics of rich content and various types, and its main types of children's literature have developed by leaps and bounds.
Children's literature in the modern sense originated in England.
In 1744, the British publisher John Newbery began to publish children's books on a large scale. This event is regarded as the beginning of the conscious children's literature publishing business in history.
The birth of "Alice" novels in the 19th century and "Harry Potter" novels in the 20th century made British children's literature the main trend of creation that influenced the world.
British literature and the profound British literary tradition have deeply influenced the development of its children's literature.
As an important part of European literature, British children's literature follows the value system of British literature, affects the formation and development of British native literature and culture, and creates its special historical status and social value.
Whether it's children's literature classics or newly created works, British children's literature seems to have been exerting a lasting world influence.
British children's literature is widely read and loved not only by children's readers, but also by adult readers.
1. Advanced concept of children and creative ideas
The continuous evolution of the British view of children is closely related to factors such as the level of British social development and the understanding of children.
Historically, from Puritanism's "soul purification" religious view of children, to John Locke's simple materialist view of children's education, to Jean Piaget's view of children's psychological and cognitive development, and then to the psychoanalytic school From the perspective of fairy tale psychology, to the aesthetic and artistic conception and educational function concept of contemporary children's literature, people's cognition of children's spiritual life state, psychological development characteristics and physical and mental growth process is always in the process of continuous exploration and deepening.
The concept of children advocated by Locke has gradually developed to take children as the main body, worship and praise children, and give play to children's subjectivity, not only shaping children into successors, but also portraying them as active leaders and innovators.
Based on this view of children, children's literature writers of all dynasties have created many deep and thoughtful children's literature works.
Beginning with the children's books published by John Newbery in the 1740s, 19th-century writers created children's literature that was child-centered, adapted to the needs of children's growth, and in a true sense - these works of classic artistic quality built the British Modern Children's Literature.
British children's literature has developed rapidly in the 20th century, and it still maintains a prosperous development trend after entering the 21st century.
Britain attaches great importance to children's literature. This "give the best to children" concept of children and children's literature is to integrate the best and advanced ideas and artistic qualities into children's literature creation, so that British children's literature will not cater to the market. And create.
Its creators are mainly mature writers, researchers, and educators with a sense of responsibility and mission. They have a deep understanding of children, an appropriate sense of literary value, high aesthetic pursuits, and skilled psychological portrayals. All created conditions for the emergence of excellent children's literature.
Some writers are critics, researchers, educators, and even librarians at the same time. They are familiar with the rules of children's literature creation and understand the needs of readers. They quietly integrate the expectations and needs of adults into the practice of children's literature creation. Child-centred concepts are also incorporated into the creation.
British children's literature and the great literary tradition go in the opposite direction, and while constantly absorbing its essence, it is also opening 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 post-structuralist thought of decentralization of the author is a response to the reader-centered thought.
The enrichment and innovation of children's literature creation practice also promotes the prosperity and contention of children's literature criticism.
When excellent children's literature continues to arouse adults' interest in reading, it also has the possibility of becoming the object of literature research.
Literary criticism also reacts to literary creation and promotes writers' reflection or innovation. The cooperation between critics and writers, readers and publishers provides possibilities and conditions for the creation of classic children's literature works.
British children's literature carries the common sentiments and values of the English nation. While celebrating the national consciousness, it also promotes the worldwide spread of its national consciousness and national ideals.
Not only that, it also has a strong construction ability, which not only shapes the British national character and national consciousness, but also inspires the young people's inheritance spirit and responsibility.
The pride and superiority of the British, the sense of frustration and anxiety after the two world wars, and the ideal of trying to restore authority have all infiltrated into children's literature, forming the unique temperament and spiritual outlook of British children's literature.
2. A tradition of high focus on real-world issues
British children's literature continues to grow and develop on the basis of the long-standing local literary tradition of realism.
Its realism inheritance is not only an extension of maturity and gloomy temperament, but also means giving people the spirit of criticism and independent thinking.
The realist children's literature tradition led by Charles Dickens uses the "tribulation-growing" style of childhood writing to present the turbulent times and the turbulent real world.
His works "Oliver Twist" (1837), "Great Expectations" (1861), "Our Common Friend" (1865), etc., by revealing the problems of orphans, child labor, and the welfare institution system in the United Kingdom, aim to arouse people's concern about children. issues and social issues.
Another important practical issue that Dickens paid attention to was the British legal system, including procedural law and substantive law.
If The Pickwick Papers (1837) was a revelation of the absurdities of English common law proceedings, Bleak House (1853) was a ruthless mockery of the English equitable process.
As for the Poor Law, which was promulgated in 1601 and amended in 1834, Dickens did his best to criticize and flog it.
Some children's literature writers since the 20th century continued to base themselves in the real world, and their creations touched more fields such as industrial pollution, ecological disasters, mental trauma, etc. Especially after the baptism of world wars and technological revolutions, British children's literature paid more attention to social issues. The writing of juvenile delinquency, the intervention of emotional problems, the transition of parenthood in the family and the assignment of roles, etc.
Take the theme of ecological disaster as an example. Ted Hughes in Iron Man (1968) and Iron Woman (1993) presented serious environmental pollution and the resulting social problems.
While Sacy Lloyd's Carbon Diary 2015 (2008) and its sequel Carbon Diary 2017 (2009) are set in a future London, they reveal serious and intractable social and ecological issues, especially the impact of climate change on society. A major change in the way humans operate and live.
Consistent with many juvenile novels of the same theme, although the two "Carbon Diaries" do not explicitly advocate "environmentalism", they criticize human beings' behavior of destroying the natural environment in a more subtle way.
In addition, British children's literature writers also rely on the form of British fantasy literature initiated by Lewis Carroll to reflect the real world. In retrospect, Philip Pullman's "Dark Matters" (1995-2000) trilogy reveals the crisis of belief and spirituality that the Western world has encountered.
JK Rowling's "Harry Potter" (1997-2007) series reflects many real problems, such as racism, sexism, abuse of power, judicial darkness, school bullying and so on.
The realist children's literature tradition and the imaginative fantasy literature are constantly injecting vitality and aura into British children's literature.
3. Combining hero narrative with micro narrative
Epics, fairy tales, ballads, fantasy literature, realist novels, etc. not only focus on grand national historical events and heroic figures, but also depict many ordinary little people.
For example, in "The Chronicles of Narnia", "Lord of the Rings" (1954, 1955) or the "Harry Potter" series, the protagonists have a major mission, whether to save a kingdom or save the wizarding world, but These protagonists have their own "weaknesses".
In terms of narrative tone, these works have both epic narration (such as the appearance of the Lion King of Aslan always has a Beowulf-like heroism), and the personal narrative style of small characters.
British children's literature works combine the two, and while examining grand issues, they also pay attention to individual demands and expressions, making the works three-dimensional and intriguing.
Unique narrative techniques—such as dual narrative processes (implicit narrative process and explicit narrative process)—provide the possibility of in-depth narrative, where not only the storyline is fully developed, but also the tension of conflict and human nature can be further explained and explained. deepen.
Unlike Chinese children's literature, which is mostly a single text, British children's literature writers are good at writing series of stories, such as "The Chronicles of Narnia", "Dark Matter" and "Harry Potter".
The series of works provide the possibility for complex narratives, and also provide a guarantee for the depth and thickness of the works. It has narrative and aesthetic value that attracts readers, and is extremely charming. It has become an important part of British children's literature creation.
In recent years, the temporal and spatial interlacing of narratives in British children's literature has also led to philosophical thinking about time and space.
Children's readers are highly receptive to concepts such as folding time, three-dimensional space, and four-dimensional creatures.
Elements of random travel through time and space can be seen everywhere in the works: the rabbit hole and magic mirror that Alice burrowed into, the 9 platforms Harry Potter traveled through, the wardrobe in the Chronicles of Narnia series, etc. are all independent of real time and space. outer space.
What is even more interesting is that in such a space, time is folded, and no matter how much time is spent in this folded time and space, the protagonists can finally return to real life through a certain node.
Such a time and space shuttle gives authors and readers great freedom to create, read and imagine.
With the global spread of the English language, the overseas colonial expansion of the United Kingdom 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, thus affecting the development of children's literature in other countries.
These translations have greatly enhanced the international status of British children's literature.
In turn, British children's literature has benefited from the translation of a large number of foreign children's literature.
All in all, British children's literature has been highly concerned or generally recognized around the world for its unique creative tradition, narrative paradigm, aesthetic pursuit and spiritual temperament, and is loved by adults and children in many countries.
(Author: Zhang Shengzhen, professor and doctoral supervisor of Beijing Language and Culture University)