The Modern School Story

The present work is a reflection on the adaptation of the classic school story; a genre which was very popular amongst children's literature throughout the 19th and 20th century, yet declined in popularity towards the middle and end of the 20th century. Its halcyon days were over, and many critics believed it to be a dead genre. However, as the recent success of books such as Harry Potter has evidently shown, this assumption might have been wrong, or at least the death of the genre was just a temporary one. Therefore, Lisa Maria Cerar analyses how authors such as J.K. Rowling could breathe new life into the old-fashioned and outdated genre and bring its popularity to new heights.