Narratives of Love and Loss

Studies in Modern Children's Fiction

Margaret Rustin, Michael Rustin

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780367105181
• eBook ISBN: 9780429916519
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

On its first publication Narratives of Love and Loss was widely recognised as an important and perceptive contribution to the study of children's literature and for its capacity to stimulate deep emotional responses in both child and adult readers. This welcome reissue includes a new postscript exploring in detail the phenomenal success of J.K Rowling's series of Harry Potter stories. The authors succeed in bringing a deep sociological and psychoanalytic close reading to some of the finest writing for children in post-war Britain and America, including works by C.S. Lewis, Rumer Godden, E.B. White and Russel Hoban. Focussed primarily on the 'fantasy genre of stories' the authors identify and sensitively explore the themes of imaginative and emotional growth, language and play, love and loss; always situating these within the broader social and cultural context.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Preface to the Revised Edition
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: Deep Structures in Modern Children’s Fiction
• 1 Loneliness, Dreaming and Discovery: Tom’s Midnight Garden
• 2 Narnia: An Imaginary Land as Container of Moral and Emotional Adventure
• 3 Magic Wishes and the Self Explorations of Children: Five Children and It
• 4 The Life of Dolls: Rumer Godden’s Understanding of Children’s Imaginative Play
• 5 The Maternal Capacities of a Small Boy: The Indian in the Cupboard
• 6 Animals in Reality and Fantasy: Two Stories by Philippa Pearce
• 7 The Poetic Power of Ordinary Speech: E. B. White’s Children’s Stories
• 8 Who Believes in ‘Borrowers’?
• 9 Making Out in America: The Mouse and His Child
• 10 Inner Implications of Extended Traumas: Carrie’s War
• 11 Finding Oneself among Strangers: Three Stories by Paula Fox
• Conclusions: Explorations of Loss
• Notes
• Postscript: The Inner World of Harry Potter
• List of Principal Works Discussed
• Index