The Literary Label of Crossover Fiction to Contemporary Childrens Literature - Coursework Example

The literary label of crossover fiction to contemporary children’s literature is commonly associated with J K Rowling’s “Harry Potter” phenomenon. However, arguably it was Phillip Pullman’s “Dark Materials” trilogy that operated as a catalyst for this change in literature through challenging pre-existing norms associated solely with children’s literature and former children’s editor Nissen argued that “Phillip Pullman’s trilogy heralded the rise of quality fiction and led the way for Harry Potter” (In Beckett 2008: 116). Indeed, Pullman himself asserted that “I wanted to reach everyone and the best way I could do that was to write for children…. And hope that they’d tell their parents…which is what happened” (In Beckett, 2008:118). Interestingly, in the UK, Northern Lights was marketed for children however it was marketed for both adult and child markets in the US. It was only when the book received outstanding reviews in the US that it attracted adult readership in the UK. As a result “many critics feel that Pullman’s work can lay better claim to the crossover label because it is much more sophisticated, complex and multi-layered” (Beckett, 2008:117). Moreover, in considering the crossover phenomenon, a British journalist in 1999 commented that “the real barrier to overcome is not one of the possibilities of the genre but the judges reluctance to value something that could also be valued by a child, believing that if a child could like it, it must be childish for an adult to like it” (In Beckett: 2008:118). To this end, Pullman’s books clearly challenged orthodox attitudes towards children and adult fiction and further forced the literary establishment to acknowledge that “books published for children are literary works worthy of attention of adults” (In Beckett, 2008:119). However, in turn, this changing shape of children’s literature has fuelled academic debate as to whether Pullman’s dystopian work can correctly be viewed as a children’s book as it confounds the archetypal format of children’s literature that focus on fairytales, utopian ideals and happy endings (Silvey, 2002: 341). Appurtenant to this debate is the contention as to whether the growing phenomenon of such crossover fiction is anti-educational as a result of the instruction through delight paradigm. The focus of this paper is to critically evaluate this debate with contextual reference to Pullman’s “Northern Lights”, which is the first book in the Dark Materials Trilogy. It is submitted at the outset that arguably part of the contention over Northern Lights as a children’s book is academic as Pullman himself reiterates that the Dark Materials trilogy was never intended as a children’s book (In Beckett, 2008:118). Nevertheless, the crossover nature of Northern Lights in terms of its success clearly raises interesting questions regarding societal change, shifting dynamics of familial relationships and the development of youth culture in the late twentieth century. For example, from a youth cultural perspective, the proliferation of the Internet and online growth has facilitated novel societal trends, thereby creating a new social model that is redefining youth culture. The creation of multi-faceted digital space has seen a significant uptake by youth on a global scale, thereby perpetuating a domino effect on culture, sub-cultures and social behaviour through the “commercialisation of youth” on the one side to changing communication trends with social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo on the other (Cross, 2004: 3). Moreover, the diversity of social spaces through networks such as Facebook, internet chat rooms and MySpace for example not only changes the way in which teenagers interact, it provides a backdrop for a multitude of complex interrelated factors, which are difficult to monitor (Barabasi, 2003: 10). In observing the impact of this phenomenon on youth Cross refers to McLuhan’s extrapolation of the global village, where the world is turned into a single community through the nature of digital spaces (McLuhan, 1994, in Cross, 2004). Moreover, O’Shaughnessy argues that unlike the first media age, the second media age is decentred and the creation of two way communications has facilitated interactivity (O’Shaughnessy, 1999). Indeed, Barr argues that globalisation is “a process in which complex interconnections are rapidly developing between societies, institutions, cultures and individuals worldwide” (Barr, 2000:37). More than merely offering vast information and entertainment to audiences, the new media format provides youths a self identity, a sense of individuality and a way to think differently from the others (Cross, 2004: 20). With the new media today, youths thinking and attitudes towards life may be manoeuvred in one way or another given these factors, it can be seen that the new media are relatively important in the lives of young people (Livingstone, 2002: 107). With this new media age, the sociability factor is clearly changing dynamics through patterns of behaviour, modes of accessing information and entertainment as well as ways of seeing the world and interacting with one another have changed (Ashkanasy, 2000: 28). Indeed, Anderson and Miles expressly refer to the fact that through new media, the impact on youth is “selling young people an element of identity” (Anderson and Miles, 1999: 108). As such, Schultze argues the digital media is shaping youth culture by changing patterns of communication and redefining community life (Schultz, 1991:50) by providing broader cultural options. As a result, children are arguably less naïve and taken in by the superficial happy endings of traditional children’s fiction. For example, Nikolajeva asserts that “children’s fiction borrows many of its structures from folklore, most traditional children’s books have a happy ending, at least superficially” (2002, p.168). However, in addition to the changing nature of youth culture in the new media age; the dynamic of traditional family relationships has changed, with many children growing up in family structures outside the utopian “nuclear family” ideal. To this end, Silvey refers to the changing nature of children’s fiction as early as 1978 with Katherine Paterson’s “The Great Gilly Hopkins” where Gilly realises that “all that stuff about happy endings is lies” (In Silvey, 1995:509). Additionally, Falconer highlights the point that “the narratives we meet now come in a sometimes bewildering array of forms. As the century turns, new technology has increased the number and type of pictorial and cinematic texts as well as bred entirely new forms of text and computers. Children are not starved of traditional types of text; there are …..innovative novels such as Philip Pullman which is fragmented and multimodal” (Falconer, 2008). Accordingly, on this basis it is evident that Pullman’s literary approach in Northern Lights addresses the changing nature of childhood and youth through the protagonist Lyra who passes “childhood, like a half wild cat” (Northern Lights, 1995:37). This further raises the question as to whether there is such a thing as a “children’s book” in the literal sense. Indeed, as highlighted above the end of the twentieth century clearly redefined youth culture and in terms of children’s literature heralded a changing nature of themes which has highlighted the “elusiveness of our very notions of “child” and “childhood” (McGillis, 2003 p.xii). Moreover, McGillis comments that “the end of the twentieth century, like the end of the nineteenth, brought concerns about children and adolescence, sex and sexual identities, end time anxieties and fears of degeneration, and in the arts a conjunction of visual and print media” (p.xii). As a result, the dystopian awareness permeating media clearly infiltrated literature with the proliferation of darker themes. As a result, McGillis argues that “at century’s end children’s literature and the study of children’s literature appear to have a more secure place in both the retail market and the academic market than ever before” (p.xiii). In particular, Phillip Pullman’s “Northern Lights” as part of the Dark Materials trilogy changed the concept of Englishness and heroism in archetypal children’s literature, with a marked distinction from imperial England to the postmodern multicultural framework of contemporary Britain. This is particularly evident in Phillip Pullman’s Northern Lights as he utilises a parallel world of England within what appears to be a late nineteenth century Dickensian backdrop, with traditional images of children’s schools as “Lyra and her daemon moved through the darkening Hall….. The three great tables that ran the length of the Hall were laid already, the silver and the glass catching what little light there was” (Pullman 1995: 3) McGillis argues that Northern Lights subverts the traditional concept of Englishness as being correlated to imperialism through the acknowledgement of multicultural Britain (McGillis, 2003: xiii). This follows the theme of literature in the twentieth century with catalysts such as the Secret Garden, which utilised the aftermath of the empire in considering post colonial cultural reform. As a result, the changing nature of children’s literature is “reconsidering the colonial power in a postcolonial state” (McGillis, 2003: 53). This further supports the proposition that whilst Northern Lights as a form of literature clearly operates beyond the archetypal children’s literature format, it is clearly too dogmatic to ignore the importance of Northern Lights in relating to children in the contemporary socio-cultural framework. For example, McGillis’ “postcolonial postmodern” paradigm arguably permeates Northern Lights, as Lyra arguably symbolises a novel romantic heroine fighting twentieth century stereotypes of children “in an England that appears to exist in some post nuclear age” (p.54). To this end, Northern Lights is extremely effective in creating familiarity through the nineteenth century format whilst using Lyra as a twentieth century Alice in Wonderland to subvert the utopian fairytale in traditional children’s literature. Indeed, Lyra’s Oxford initially has parallels to the romantic connotations of Oxford as “Jordan College was the grandest and richest of all the colleges in Oxford. It was probably the largest too, though no one knew for certain” (Pullman p.34). To this end, Hunt posits that Lyra represents the Biblical Eve figure on a conquest through the use of a parallel world Oxford akin to the nineteenth century, imperial world of England using the England of late nineteenth. Moreover, Hunt argues that “initially the most striking feature is that in the first world each human has a visible alter ego, a demon which alters shape when the person is a child and later becomes fixed” (Hunt, 2001, p.113). Therefore, in Northern lights the Oxford is familiar yet alien and Pullman in the preface comments that “Jordan college was the grandest of all colleges in Oxford. It was probably the largest too, though no one knew for certain. The buildings which were grouped around three irregular quadrangles, dated from the early Middle Ages to the mid-eighteenth century. It had never been planned; it had grown piecemeal, with the past and present overlapping at every spot; and the final effect was one of jumbled and squalid grandeur” (Northern lights, Pullman, 1995: 34). However, beneath the surface, Lyra’s Oxford is contrastingly hostile and she is raised “like a half wild cat,” “a coarse and greedy savage”. Moreover, Lyra’s curiosity in wanting to break out of her environment mirrors innate child curiosity as she pleads with Lord Asriel “why is my place here? Why can’t I come to the North with you? I want to see the Northern Lights and bears and icebergs and everything. I want to know about Dust. And the city in the air. Is it another world?” (Pullman, 1995:33). To this end, Pullman clearly adopts the fantasy themes of classic children’s literature, however cleverly subverts the fantasy as the “tone is one of feudal formality, with college inhabitants” and “one can read Northern lights as a reconstruction of imperialist England in a post colonial, post modern state” (McGillis, 2003: 54). As such, Lyra’s Oxford operates as a pastiche to incite reader familiarity with archetypal childhood themes however Pullman subverts this through the reality of violence, bullying and warfare as Lyra lives between different cultures. As such, Pullman again touches on difficult themes that are nevertheless pertinent to contemporary issues affecting and being experienced by children; which in turn supports the argument that “Northern Lights is a multicultural text” as Lyra meets Oxford academics, violent Tartars, the gyptians, witches, angels and bears with different groups” (McGillis, 2003: 54). On the other side of the spectrum, the acknowledgment of pain suffered by children is tackled throughout Northern Lights as exemplified by Lyra leaving her daemon when going to the underworld: “And she looked back again at the foul and dismal shore, so bleak and blasted with disease and poison and thought of her dear Pan waiting there alone, her heart’s companion, watching her disappear into the mist, and she fell into a storm of weeping…. All along the shore in innumerable ponds and shallows in wretched broken tree stumps, the damaged creatures that lurked there heard her fullhearted cry and drew themselves a little closer to the ground afraid of such passion (Pullman, 296). To this end, Northern Lights clearly provides an allegory to the contemporary global framework, which further reiterates the impact of the book in changing the way literature relates to children within the contemporary socio-political framework. Additionally, on this basis Northern Lights is poignant in arguably highlighting the fallacy of idealistic paradigms of childhood. For example, McGillis highlights the allegory to the current political framework in international relations that “there is even a singular pioneering American balloonist who hires himself out as a troubleshooter and Pullman thereby creates a mini-cosmos in the hunt for lost children who are separated from their daemons, who are a reflection of themselves” (2003: 55). This observation implies the separation of daemons and lost children symbolising lost childhood. Moreover, there are clearly Biblical connotations as Pullman’s “worlds are post-Darwinist, post-Freudian, postcolonial, and postmodern, yet the quest of his trilogy is to refine Eden” (McGillis, 2003:55). Moreover, at the end of Northern Lights, Lyra’s narration asserts that “she turned away. Behind them lay pain and death and fear; ahead of them lay doubt and danger and fathomless mysteries. But they weren’t alone. So Lyra and her daemon turned away from the world they were born in, and looked towards the sun, and walked into the sky” (Pullman, 398-399). As such, Lyra personifies increased child autonomy and highlights the postmodern context in contrast to the nineteenth century faith in God as the hero (McGillis, 2003). In turn, Lyra’s journey undermines the perfection ideal and Lyra thereby “has to be a new coloniser to explore new worlds, parallel universes, instead of assuming a seamless hegemony. Instead of the given constructs of imperialism, she has to believe in and trust herself to walk into the sky” (McGillis, 2003:56). On the other hand, it is evident that key texts in nineteenth century literature such as Dickens’ “Great Expectations” (1860) and “Oliver Twist” (1838) along with Charles Kingsley’s “Water Babies” (1864) all used satire, irony and inversion of the classic storytelling tradition to highlight the bleak reality for many children. Therefore this clearly challenges stereotypical presumptions regarding childhood. It further highlights the point that with Northern Lights the central difference is that the popularity of the books with children highlights the changes in youth culture in the postmodern era and increased child autonomy and understanding as opposed to the literary phenomenon itself redefining childhood. Moreover, in considering this societal impact in redefining the boundaries of children’s literature, Alston considers the change in the representation of family and comments that “the future of children’s literature and its representation of the family are at a crucial point. In the first decade of the twentieth century it was teetering on a fence, on one side of which there is the safety of nostalgia and tradition as children’s literature addresses the normative family. However this has changed now as evidenced by the Dark Materials trilogy” (Alston, 2008:136). For example, the two central protagonists Lyra and Will do not have conventional families and Will’s mother does not care for him due to mental illness. At the beginning of Northern lights “Lyra enjoys all the romance of being an orphan at the” (Alston, 2008:45); however her parents are Mrs Coulter and Lord Asriel who are both perpetrators of evil at different ends of the scale. For example, in Northern lights, Lord Asriel’s relationship with Lyra is very formal: “Go and play then,” said Lord Asriel. “Lyra turned and darted to the door with relief, remembering to turn and blurt out a “Goodbye” (Pullman, 1995: 40). Additionally, the unconventional relationship and lack of emotion is cemented when Lord Asriel almost kills Lyra at the beginning of the novel and murders her friend Roger. The impact of Roger’s death on Lyra is tragic and highlights the irony of her relationship with her father Lord Asriel: “she could have killed her father: if she could have torn out his heart, she would have done so there and then” (Pullman, 1995:397). As such, this clearly undermines traditional father/child relationships in literature and indeed the representation of Lyra’s mother Mrs Coulter belies the image of the mother as she is a “gobler” kidnapping children to separate them from their daemons. The irony and tragedy of Lyra’s relationship with her parents underlines the inherent complexities and realities of familial relationships. To this end, Alston comments that “Lyra knows that fathers should love their daughters, wants to return to her home in Jordan College and holds dear the memory of waking up in her mother’s arms – even though she is oblivious to the fact that her mother drugged her” (Alston, 2008:137). Leading literary academic Hunt also considers the impact of Phillip Pullman’s books on contemporary children’s literature and refers to Pullman’s argument that Northern Lights is a contemporary version of Paradise Lost. To this end, Pullman comments that “in contrast to C. S. Lewis’s idea, for example, the Christian idea, that the Fall is a terrible thing; that were all children of sin, and there’s no hope of doing any good unless we believe in God and then only if he chooses to bless us with his grace. I think that’s a pessimistic and defeatist view, and I don’t like it at all” (In Hunt, 2001:141). Notwithstanding, the changing narrative of children’s literature from an adult perspective has in turn fuelled debate with regard to the use of such texts in child education. For example, Hodges et al, comment that “young readers confidently tackled demanding visual texts leaving adults to wonder what there is in it for them when sharing the reading. It is impossible to read a wordless picture book” (Hodges et al, 2000 p.146). Nevertheless, the pleasure derived from text has led to some purists denouncing the use of the instruction through delight method in literature on grounds of being anti-educational. Hodges et al observe that Newberry proposition of children’s books offering “instruction through delight” (p.146), which in turn is supported by Townsend (Hodges et al, 2000). Alternatively, Briggs et al, highlight that the underlying controversy of crossover fiction is whether or not the specific text advances history of children’s literature (Briggs et al, 2008:7). To this end, Briggs et al suggest that the utility of the instruction through delight model ultimately depends on the nature of the text and that an overriding preference for the delight model can ignore the actual educational value of certain literature. Accordingly, it is submitted that the above analysis demonstrates that the role of Northern Lights as a children’s book is inherently complex. On the one hand, from a simplistic view, the book clearly undermines traditional children’s literature in providing a dystopian reality outside of fairytales and happy endings. However, on the other hand, if Northern Lights is considered contextually; its themes are clearly pertinent to today’s child in terms of the realities of the socio-cultural framework. As such, it is submitted that in subverting the traditional children’s book format through the use of fantasy and parallel worlds, Northern Lights is a children’s book for today’s child. Moreover, it is submitted that it is precisely this element of Northern Lights that has been a key factor in its crossover success. Moreover, whilst it is accepted that the instruction through delight model of teaching literature is inherently dependent on the nature of the text being studied; it is submitted that the contextually relevant themes of Northern Lights along with its contribution to the debate on religion, societal violence, youth and warfare clearly render the text an appropriate book for use in the instruction through delight model. Bibliography Alston, A. (2008). The Family in English children’s Literature. Routledge. Anderson, A. & Miles, S. (1999). Just Do It. Young People, the Global Media and the Construction of Consumer Meanings. In Youth and Global Media, Ralph, S. (ed), Luton: University of Luton Press. Ashkanasy, N. (2000). Handbook of organisational culture and climate. Sage. Barr, T. (2000), Newmedia.com.au: The Changing Face of Australia’s Media and Communications, Australia: Allen & Unwin Barabasi, A. (2003). Linked: How everything is Connected to Everything Else and What it Means. Beckett, S. (2008). Crossover Fiction: Global and Historical Perspectives. Taylor & Francis. Bennett, A. & Harris, K. (2004). After Subculture: Critical Studies in Contemporary Youth Culture. Palgrave Macmillan Briggs, J., Butts, D., & Grenby, M. O. (2008). Popular Children’s Literature in Britain. Ashgate Publishing Limited. Cross, R. (2004). The Hidden Power of Social Networks: Understanding How Work Really Gets Done. Harvard Business School Press. Falconer, R. (2008). The crossover novel: contemporary children’s fiction and its adult readership. Taylor and Francis Hodges, G., Styles, M., & Drummond, M. J. (2000). Tales, Tellers and texts. Continuum International Publishing. Hunt, P. (2001). Children’s Literature. Wiley Blackwell. Livingstone, S. (2002). Young People and New Media, London: Sage McGillis, R. (2003).Children’s Literature and the fin de siecle. Greenwood Publishing Group. Nikolajeva, M. (2002). The rhetoric of character in children’s literature. 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