Our Mythical Childhood…: The Classics and Literature for Children and Young Adults

Copyright

Contents

List of Figures

Notes on Contributors

What Is a Classic… for Children and Young Adults?

PART 1: In Search of Our Roots: Classical References as a Shaper of Young Readers’ Identity

1: From Aesop to Asterix Latinus: A Survey of Latin Books for Children

2: Childhood Rhetorical Exercises of the Victor of Vienna

3: The Aftermath of Myth through the Lens of Walter Benjamin: Hermes in J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens and in Astrid Lindgren’s Karlson on the Roof

4: A Latin Lesson for Bad Boys, or: Kipling’s Tale of the Enchanted Bird

5: Laura Orvieto and the Classical Heritage in Italy before the Second World War

6: Saul Tchernichowsky’s Mythical Childhood: Homeric Allusions in the Idyll “Elka’s Wedding”

7: Jadwiga Żylińska’s Fabulous Antiquity

8: A Child among the Ruins: Some Thoughts on Contemporary Modern Greek Literature for Children

9: The Reception of Classical Antiquity in Polish Lexicography for Children and Young Adults

PART 2: The Aesop Complex: The Transformations of Fables in Response to Regional Challenges

10: Our Fabled Childhood: Reflections on the Unsuitability of Aesop to Children

11: A Gloss on Perspectives for the Study of African Literature versus Greek and Oriental Traditions

12: Aesop’s Fables in Japanese Literature for Children: Classical Antiquity and Japan

13: Vitalis the Fox: Remarks on the Early Reading Experience of a Future Historian of Antiquity in Poland (1950s–1960s)

14: Aemulating Aesopus: Slovenian Fables and Fablers between Tradition and Innovation

PART 3: Daring the Darkness: Classical Antiquity as a Filter for Critical Experiences

15: Armies of Children: War and Peace, Ancient History and Myth in Children’s Books after World War One

16: Classical Antiquity in Children’s Literature in the Soviet Union

17: Katabasis “Down Under” in the Novels of Margaret Mahy and Maurice Gee

18: ‘His Greek Materials’: Philip Pullman’s Use of Classical Mythology

19: Orpheus and Eurydice: Reception of a Classical Myth in International Children’s Literature

PART 4: New Hope: Classical References in the Mission of Preparing Children to Strive for a Better Future

20: Greek Mythology in Israeli Children’s Literature

21: Telemachus in Jeans: Adam Bahdaj’s Reception of the Myth about Odysseus’s Son

22: An Attempt on Theseus by Kir Bulychev: Travelling to Virtual Antiquity

23: Graeco-Roman Antiquity and Its Productive Appropriation: The Example of Harry Potter

24: J.K. Rowling Exposes the World to Classical Antiquity

25: East, West, and Finding Yourself in Caroline Lawrence’s “Roman Mysteries”

26: Create Your Own Mythology: Youngsters for Youngsters (and Oldsters) in Mythological Fan Fiction

Bibliography

Index