Canon Constitution and Canon Change in Children's Literature

This volume focuses on the (de)canonization processes in childrens literature, considering the construction and cultural-historical changes of canons in different childrens literatures. Chapters by international experts in the field explore a wide range of different childrens literatures from Great Britain, Germany, Scandinavia, the Low Countries, Eastern and Central Europe, as well as from Non-European countries such as Australia, Israel, and the United States. Situating the inquiry within larger literary and cultural studies conversations about canonicity, the contributors assess representative authors and works that have encountered changing fates in the course of canon history. Particular emphasis is given to sociological canon theories, which have so far been under-represented in canon research in childrens literature. The volume therefore relates historical changes in the canon of childrens literature not only to historical changes in concepts of childhood but to more encompassing political, social, economic, cultural, and ideological shifts. This volumes comparative approach takes cognizance of the fact that, if canon formation is an important cultural factor in nation-building processes, a comparative study is essential to assessing transnational processes in canon formation. This book thus renders evident the structural similarities between patterns and strategies of canon formation emerging in different childrens literatures.