Study On Fifty Years’ Anglo-American Children’s Literature Criticism

In the realm of English children’s literature,the 1970s are generally regarded as the beginning of its academic studies and the establishment as an independent discipline,marked by the founding of well-known specialized children’s literature academic journals and associations.Since then,children’s literature studies has entered into the literature field from education and library science.Over the past five decades,the recognition of children’s literature studies has become an academic consensus,and a critical discourse system on Anglo-American children’s literature has been established.This study focuses on the criticism of Anglo-American children’s literature,using academic journals as its primary medium.It aims to explore the developmental changes in the conceptualization,methods,and theoretical frameworks of criticism in Anglo-American children’s literature.The rationale of the study lies in:firstly,children’s literature criticism constitutes an important component of both children’s literature studies and literary criticism.On one hand,it promotes children’s literature creating writing and reading,and fosters children’s culture and aesthetics practice.On the other hand,as part of literary criticism,children’s literature criticism contributes to the overall development of literary criticism.Secondly,academic journals on children’s literature serve as the main carriers of Anglo-American children’s literature criticism.Therefore,a systematic examination of these journals facilitates the understanding of key concepts and critical methodologies towards children’s literature criticism.This study selects six well-known and authoritative academic journals in Anglo-American children’s literature:Children’s Literature,The Lion and the Unicorn,Signal,Children’s Literature Association Quarterly,Children’s Literature in Education and International Research in Children’s Literature.These journals primarily engage in critical research on children’s literature,reflecting the current trends in Anglo-American children’s literature studies.Furthermore,while research on children’s literature in China is burgeoning,concerted efforts are still needed to develop the discourse system of children’s literature criticism,as well as the children’s literature discipline.This study would provide us with a reference for the construction of Chinese children’s literature discipline,criticism and academic journals.This study enlarges and updates the Chinese literary resources in Anglo-American children’s literature studies,including academic journal articles,journal archives（correspondence etc..）,conference proceedings,and conversational interviews with renowned Anglo-American children’s literature critics.These provide rich first-hand data to explore the Anglo-American children’s literature criticism.Furthermore,by systematically examination of the Anglo-American children’s literature criticism,it elucidates the connotations of key concepts and their changes in viewpoint,methods,and theoretical frameworks of children’s literature criticism.The entire study unfolds from total to parts,following a mindset from children’s literature criticism’s historical development,critical concepts,methodology,and theoretical frameworks.The three-stages historical development of children’s literature criticism in the first chapter provides an overview for this study,then followed by a focus on the developmental changes of viewpoint and methodology of children’s literature criticism,and finally addresses five theoretical criticisms of children’s literature.These five chapters are interconnected.Chapter One presents the in chronological development of the three-stage Anglo-American children’s literature criticism and its characteristics over the past fifty years.The 1970s marked the start of academic criticism of children’s literature.From the 1980s to the late 1990s was a period of theoretical construction of discourse in Anglo-American children’s literature criticism,with multiculturalism becoming an important theoretical focus.In 21^stcentury,the discourse of children’s literature criticism has been diversified,with a tendency toward diversity,interdisciplinarity,and internationalization.The theoretical criticism becomes action-oriented.Chapter Two examines the developmental changes in the viewpoint of children’s literature criticism from three fundamental questions:defining children’s literature,the relationship between children and adults in children’s literature,and the functions of children’s literature.Firstly,the 20^thcentury witnessed a viewpoint shift in children’s literature criticism from essentialism to constructivism.It shifted from the efforts of defining children’s literature to the discussion of children’s literature impossibility,and then towards the not defining of children’s literature.The proposition of‘impossibility’and‘not defining’of children’s literature do not in essence deny the existence or definition of children’s literature but reveal its complexity.The former highlights the persistent unequal rights relationship between children and adults in children’s literature,while the latter emphasizes the existence of children’s literature as a universal category,a more inclusive viewpoint.Secondly,the relationship between children and adults in children’s literature has shifted from a viewpoint of binary opposition to a focus on children’s subjectivity and agency,and ultimately towards a integral model.That is,the childhood becomes a bridge to connect the children and adult and regards them as continuum.Thirdly,at the background of cultural studies,the dichotomy of‘pedagogy-entertainment’has gradually been replaced by aesthetic and ideological criticism in children’s literature.The various divergent functions of children’s literature have been constantly changing with and within the social contexts and go towards plurality.Chapter Three traces the development of children’s literature criticism methods.It evolves from literary criticism of children’s literature to cultural and ideological criticism,and then towards interdisciplinary research.Children’s literature criticism starts from two main traditions:child-centered and book-centered research.It discusses basic issues such as children’s literature criticism criteria,its specificity,and aesthetic traits.It evolves from hidden child readers to the proposition of‘childism’and‘childness’.Then,ideological criticism of children’s literature brings children’s literature into a broader cultural context,emphasizing the broad cultural messages behind.In the 21^stcentury,‘children-centred’interdisciplinary methods have become increasingly prominent.Childhood studies,as representatives,gain great momentum.Therefore,‘children’has become an important theoretical and methodological resource in children’s literature and cultural studies.Chapter Four focuses respectively on the development of ethnic criticism and feminist criticism of children’s literature along a timeline.Ethnic criticism of children’s literature initially explored stereotypes of African American children,then shifted to reflect on racial positions and white-centric thinking frameworks.Its critical discourse delves into institutional and structural.The rediscovery of works by African American children’s authors has driven the reinterpretations and rewriting of the cultural history of children’s ethnic literature.Meanwhile,African aesthetics studies have received much attention.At the turn of the century,discourse in ethnic criticism of children’s literature showed a trend of pluralistic development.It combines with theories such as embodiment,feminism,and ecocriticism,and enlarges to multi-ethnic studies,and diversified multi-genre critical practices,with post-colonialism becoming an important theoretical resource for ethnic criticism of children’s literature.Feminist criticism of children’s literature initially excavated representations of gender inequality in children’s literature,then turned to focus on the construction of gender subjects and gender ideologies.It emphasizes to investigate issues of gender rights by using gender discourse and further questions how gender is socially constructed.In the 21^stcentury,feminist criticism of children’s literature has shown a trend of pluralistic development.It continues to deepen its integration with postmodern theory,giving rise to post-feminist criticism,postcolonial feminist criticism,ecofeminist criticism,etc.It focuses more on understanding the social construction of children’s gender and its complex relationships from broad social structures,and pays attention to the political and social significance of gender subject transformation.The trend of developing materialist feminism in children’s literature is becoming evident,and children’s gender identity is in fluid.Chapter Five respectively retraces the children’s literature psychoanalytic criticism,transmedia criticism,and ecocriticism.Psychoanalysis is a prominent part of Anglo-American children’s literature criticism.It follows the tradition of psychoanalysis in fairy tales and folklore,focusing on uncovering the hidden spiritual messages beneath children’s texts by analyzing the language and structure of the texts,or interpreting the hidden spiritual world of authors（especially subconscious content beyond authorial intent）and drawing support from authors’childhood experiences to understand children’s literary works.Psychoanalytic criticism highlights the significance of children’s literature for children’s spiritual growth and its extensive spiritual healing function for reading.Alongside the reflection on the‘non-historical’characteristics of psychoanalytic criticism and fairy tales,the social and historical dimensions of psychoanalytic criticism are expanded.At the turn of the century,interdisciplinary research in psychoanalytic criticism of children’s literature became more prominent,continually intersecting with cognitive criticism,embodiment studies,feminist criticism,postcolonial criticism,etc.,deepening the exploration of children’s subject identity issues.Children’s literature transmedia criticism is always established with focus on certain relationships,such as the interplay between children,media,and culture.Taking children’s films as target,it mainly focuses on three essential issues:the relationship between children’s films（as adaptations of children’s literature）and the original source texts of children’s literature;the relationship between children’s film and children’s multimedia literacy;and the relationship between children,media,and culture within media culture.Firstly,children’s films studies shift from‘fidelity’and‘faithfulness’to adaptive practices regarding the original source texts of children’s literature,highlighting the uniqueness of the children’s film medium and its extension of children’s stories.Secondly,the development of children’s media shapes children’s multimedia literacy,and children’s subjectivity in media culture is reexamined.Finally,the analysis of the mass culture and commercial cultural mechanisms behind children’s media explores the relationship between children’s media as industrial products and the reproduction of children’s texts and literacy.Reflections on the relationship between humans and nature are the starting point of ecological criticism of children’s literature.The core concept of‘ecological consciousness’expands the boundaries of children’s literature.Children’s literature is not only an ideological art form but also a complex expression process with dynamic life significance.Trends of ecological criticism of children’s literature research are observed:Firstly,it closely ties to real ecological activism movements,with prominent action-oriented features.Secondly,the childhood ecological views extend to a global perspective,strengthening transnational connections.Thirdly,there is a strong emphasis on local consciousness,focusing on how childhood and local ecology are linked and to promote local childhood ecological awareness education.Then,it combines with multicultural theories（such as ecofeminism,eco-postcolonialism）to explore the rights among children,nature,and society.Moreover,ecological ethics shift from anthropocentrism to a post-humanist trend.Over the past fifty years,the Anglo-American children’s literature criticism has been continuously developing and making new breakthroughs.In an era of increasingly close international exchanges but occasional counter-currents,this study aims to promote conversational dialogue between Chinese and English children’s literature.On the one hand,Anglo-American children’s literature criticism study helps us understand and recognize the unique children’s culture and childhood spirit of the English world,providing clues for exploring the humanistic nature of Anglo-American culture.On the other hand,an examination of Anglo-American children’s literature criticism provides references for the construction of Chinese children’s literature discipline,criticism,and academic journals.