Fantastical disruptions: representation and ideology in historical fiction for children
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2007
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Abstract
This thesis examines how the insertion of fantasy into historical fiction for children offers a subversive challenge to monologism. As Rosemary Jackson explains, "the fantastic traces the unsaid and the unseen of culture: that which has been silenced" (4). I draw on the work of Linda Hutcheon and Mikhail Bakhtin to argue that the fantastical can efface straightforward equations of history with "truth," permitting alternate perspectives. I first examine Julius Lester's use of magical realism and tall tales to question conceptions of slavery. Next, I turn to the historical narratives of Paul Yee, and demonstrate how effectively the ghost story can create a multifaceted history that links past to present. I also investigate three times lip novels that demonstrate the genre's strengths and limitations. As long as historical fiction influences how children conceive of their pasts, presents and futures, fantasy's capacity to inte1ject dialogism into these understandings will remain important.
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Bibliography: p. 139-148
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Grattan, T. C. (2007). Fantastical disruptions: representation and ideology in historical fiction for children (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/1291