Review/Recension

Med sin illustrerede monografi Voiceless Vanguard: The Infantilist Aesthetics of the Russian Avant-Garde skriver Sara Pankenier Weld sig p original vis ind i bde det store, eksisterende felt af studier i den russiske avantgarde og det opblomstrende felt af studier i russisk og sovjetisk brnekultur og -litteratur

Review/recension

It is a widely accepted opinion that children should not be exposed to feelings of despair or meaninglessness. Based on an analysis of two picturebooks, Shaun Tan’s The Red Tree (2001) and Lone Munksgaard Nielsen and Pia Thaulov’s The Boy Who Lost Himself (2015), this article demonstrates, however, that these feelings are necessary and desirable when trying to discover who you are. Feeling despondent or enclosed contains a possibility of finding yourself and therefore it should not be neglected or eliminated. The theoretical framework of the article is the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard’s understanding of becoming a human being. For Kierkegaard, despair, meaninglessness and enclosedness are precisely the feelings that can help you become who you are. The article demonstrates how the protagonists’ despair and enclosedness gives them the possibility to realize themselves as human beings. From the child’s perspective, these picturebooks recount an existential theme fundamental to everyone: How do we become who we are?

Review/Recension

Review/Recension

Review/Recension

Zoe Jaques och Eugene Giddens Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-glass: A Publishing History

Intresset for bilderboken och forskningen om den tycks bara vaxa under 2000-talet. Amnet ar tacksamt. Mycket ar annu outforskat samtidigt som bilderboksmediet hela tiden soker nya gackande uttryck....

‘‘Urban space: An examination of the coming of age of Majken in Martha Sandwall-Bergström’s novel trilogy about the Oskarsson family.’’ In this article I examine the ways in which Martha Sandwall-Bergström uses urban places and milieus to depict the coming of age of the protagonist Majken in Aldrig en lugn stund hos Oskarssons (1952), Allt händer hos Oskarssons (1953) and Majken Stolt, född Oskarsson (1954). With support from Henri Lefebvres concept of social space, I argue that Sandwall-Bergström employs the social spaces of the city to depict Majken’s development.In her search for a new identity Majken moves trough a variety of social spaces, typical for a big city of the 1950’s. My point is that the actual searching takes place in the public spaces of the inner city, on streets, in shopping malls and nightspots. This can be read as a period of development and freedom before Majken has to adjust herself to a more conventional way of life. The trilogy describes a circular movement from one home to another but at the same time also a social journey. Repeatedly Sandwall-Bergström contrasts the overcrowded and dirty working class apartment of Majken’s childhood with the bright and clean spaces of urban modernity.Keywords: Martha Sandwall-Bergström; identity construction; urban space; social space; young adult literature(Published: 11 December 2013)Citation: Barnboken tidskrift för barnlitteraturforskning/Journal of Children’s Literature Research, Vol. 36, 2013 http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/clr.v36i0.23344