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A Three and a Half Year Old Girl's Responses to Astrid Lindgren's My Very Own Sister
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Revisiting Some Icons of the Golden Age
Full text linkTo approach and reread childhood literature is fraught with problems. The recollection is often replaced by a new adult version of reality, much of which threatens to shatter the illusion of the child reading. Therefore it was with trepidation that I approached the task, armed with.the adult critical tools: suspension of disbelief; ability to recognise didactic and moral intent; a partially formed paradigm of literary theory; a vast body of knowledge about narrative structures, historical norms and biographies. An arsenal. The outcome was mixed. True, the reflection showed flaws, at times yawning gaps, but I found to my delight and perhaps to the discomfiture of my adult critic, that my child feelings and recollections survived. If necessary, they can subvert the grown-up response of critical angst and threat of disillusionment.
This article discusses Little Women, The Coral Island, and The Secret Garden.
Gillian Rubinstein and Her Women
Full text linkWhat is it that computers, jigsaw puzzles and cryptic crosswords have in common? Simply the capacity to intrigue us. To puzzle us and whet our appetite for more - to keep us thinking. There is one facet of Gillian Rubinstein's novels which is similarly intriguing and that is her characterisation of women. Just as cryptic crosswords do, her women behave according to their own internally consistent rules (although their relationship with reality is often erratic) and they draw on a wealth of observations, learning and experiences in (particularly women) readers which might seem disconnected and meaningless to the uninitiated. but which create in the end a coherent whole. The depth and strength in these characters. counterpoised with their often appallingly negative character traits, forms the puzzle. Why do they seem so profoundly important? Are they simply storybook characters, entirely dictated by and subservient to the plot? Or do they speak to the reader directly because they represent a deeper working out of Rubinstein's own experiences and feelings about women, womanhood and motherhood in particular? The answer probably lies somewhere in the middle, but the question niggles away at the back of the mind. Accordingly, this paper concerns the question: where does the story end and the personal pain begin
