Peter Hunt
The Centre for Research in Children’s and Young Adult Literature
in conjunction with the
MA in Children’s and Young Adult Literature Degree Programme
cordially invite you to a talk by Professor Peter Hunt - Adjunct Professor, DCU
Living Toys in Children's Literature: 
Ontology, Narratology, and Downright Theft
Tuesday, 21 February 2023 | 17.00 |
AHC. PG11 All Hallow’s Campus, Purcell House, Ground Floor, Room 11
Why should a group of intelligent adults spend an hour talking about fictional animated toys? Simple: texts for children are vitally important to world culture, and this highly influential genre (who has not had favourite book of this sort?) pivots on the very centre of the power imbalance that lies at the heart of all children’s literature. A child’s private relationship with a favourite toy (and who has not had one?) is both universal and intimate, and writers over the centuries have appropriated this relationship, adulterated it, and sold it back to children. The complexity of this process is reflected in the technical complexity of the narrative strategies that writers and illustrators have had to use, and raises some basic questions about authenticity in writing for children.
Before becoming Adjunt Professor at DCU, Peter Hunt was the first
Professor of Children’s Literature in the UK, at Cardiff University.
He has published nearly 40 books on the subject, and has lectured at
over 150 universities and learned societies in 25 countries. And has 9
grandchildren, who know a lot more about children’s books than he
does.
RSVP: Susan Byrne (susan.byrne@dcu.ie)
WhyWhy should a group of intelligent adults spend an hour talking about fictional animated toys? Simple: texts for children are vitally imporimportant to world culture, and this highly influential genre (who has not had favourite book of this sort?) pivots on the very centrecentre of the power imbalance that lies at the heart of all children’s literature. A child’s private relationship with a favourite toy (and ((and who has not had one?) is both universal and intimate, and writers over the centuries have appropriated this relationship, adulteadulterated it, and sold it back to children. The complexity of this process is reflected in the technical complexity of the narrative stratestragities that writers and illustrators have had to use, and raises some basic questions about authenticity in writing for children.
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Before becoming Adjunt Professor at DCU, Peter Hunt was the first Professor of Children’s Literature in the UK, at Cardiff University. He has published nearly 40 books on the subject, and has lectured at over 150 universities and learned societies in 25 countries. And has 9 grandchildren, who know a lot more about children’s books than he does. |
RSVP: Susan.Byrne@DCU.ie