The Voice of the Narrator in Children's Literature: Insights from Writers and CriticsCharlott Otten, Gary D. Schmidt As Otten and Schmidt note in their preface, voice is a broad metaphor. Thus the 41 essays in this collection provide varied approaches, examining point of view, focus, selection of details, tone, and even illustrations as part of the narrative identity. Eight genres, including picture books, fantasy, realism, and biography, receive separate study in generally brief articles by writers and more substantial analyses by critics. . . . In her contribution, Jill Paton Walsh describes contemporary criticism as an `impenetrable thicket of technical terms.' In most cases, the critics here avoid jargon. They speak clearly, offering practical criticsm accessible to anyone seriously concerned about narrative technique in children's literature. Choice |
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... Writing that can be heard offers us " language lined with flesh , " as Roland Barthes puts it . " Writing aloud " is Barthes ' term for writing that is as " delicately granular and vibrant as an animal's muzzle " ( 67 ) . Such writing ...
... writing about so richly varied a life . That necessity can be a blessing . Some biographies are enormous compendia of facts , full of the clutter of daily life , with the subject's every ticket stub and laundry bill thrown in . It is ...
... writing for a child audience can be an enabling situation in which the writer , in particular the woman writer , can explore or create a self and find a voice that writing for an adult audience may preclude.3 To follow this line of ...
Contents
Introduction | 3 |
Narrating Chaucer Grimm New England | 25 |
Finding the Narrative Voice through Dramatically | 32 |
Copyright | |
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