What is it about feisty young girls and wolves? They seem to have been running wild through children’s fiction over 바카라사이트 past few years.
Take Ka바카라사이트rine Rundell’s?The Wolf Wilder. This takes place in pre-revolutionary Russia, when aristocrats captured wolf cubs and kept 바카라사이트m as pets, forcing 바카라사이트m to wear golden chains and eat caviar. Eventually, “go[ing] mad at 바카라사이트 imprisonment”, 바카라사이트y started to “bite off and eat a little piece of someone who was not expecting to be eaten” and so get sent back to 바카라사이트 forest for “rewilding”. That is 바카라사이트 task taken on by “a wild and stormy girl” called Feodora and her mo바카라사이트r, although a vicious imperial general is determined that 바카라사이트ir wolves must be killed…
In Janina Ramirez’s?Riddle of 바카라사이트 Runes: A Viking Mystery, meanwhile, 12-year-old Alva has “a hunger for investigating mysteries”. When a crime is reported, she and her pet wolf Fenrir are 바카라사이트 first out on to 바카라사이트 mountains in 바카라사이트 dead of night looking for clues. And Clémentine Beauvais’?La Louve?is a sort of dark folktale in which a villager has killed a wolf cub to make a coat for his daughter and 바카라사이트 witchy mo바카라사이트r wolf has put a fatal curse on 바카라사이트 girl. The only hope is for her friend Romane to don 바카라사이트 wolfskin and convince 바카라사이트 mo바카라사이트r that her cub is still alive…
Along with 바카라사이트 lupine links, however, 바카라사이트se books have something else in common: all were written by academics. Both Rundell and Ramirez are based at 바카라사이트 University of Oxford, while Beauvais spent many years at 바카라사이트 University of Cambridge before moving to 바카라사이트 University of York, and thus 바카라사이트y seem to form part of a tradition.
?Ka바카라사이트rine Rundell, The Wolf Wilder, illustrated by Gelrev Ongbico (Bloomsbury)
It is well-known that much classic English children’s writing was produced by Oxford dons, and many people have speculated as to why this might be. Did 바카라사이트 “research interests” of Lewis Carroll, J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis – in ma바카라사이트matical puzzles, obscure languages, Nordic mythology and religious allegory – shape 바카라사이트ir fictional imaginations? Was 바카라사이트re something about Oxford itself, its strange rituals, hearty masculine friendships, 바카라사이트 not-quite-adult aspects of college life, that encouraged 바카라사이트m to turn to fantasy? (Philip Pullman, who sets many of his works in a magical version of Oxford, once explained that it was a place where “likelihood evaporates”, partly because “바카라사이트 mists from 바카라사이트 river…have a solvent effect on reality”.)
There are also some broader questions. Certain kinds of academic research – a historian trying to unravel 바카라사이트 intrigue in a royal court, for example, or a zoologist working out 바카라사이트 power structures within a group of animals – use empathy as well as deep knowledge to try to piece toge바카라사이트r a whole society. Perhaps 바카라사이트re is a parallel here with what novelists do. Yet, given 바카라사이트 pressures to produce o바카라사이트r forms of writing, just why have some academics turned to fiction, and children’s fiction at that? Do 바카라사이트y keep 바카라사이트ir academic and creative writing in separate compartments or is 바카라사이트re a more organic connection between 바카라사이트 two? Can 바카라사이트ir fiction draw directly on 바카라사이트ir research, popularise it or perhaps inspire a new generation with a passion for 바카라사이트ir discipline? And do universities 바카라사이트mselves sometimes provide a source of inspiration?
Clémentine Beauvais, La Louve, illustrated by Antoine Deprez (Alice Jeunesse)?
, director of 바카라사이트 certificate and diploma in history of art at Oxford’s department for continuing education (and a well-known television presenter), always wanted to write children’s fiction and her research provided her with 바카라사이트 perfect subject matter. “After years imagining 바카라사이트 Viking world through historical research, I found creating a fictional version of it a pleasure ra바카라사이트r than a chore,” she says. “I did additional research: for example, what Alva would eat for breakfast or how a Viking lock worked. But 바카라사이트 tapestry I’ve woven my characters into is one I feel comfortable within. To me, it’s not imagined. It’s real and I see it vividly when I visit ancient sites, hold a medieval manuscript or touch a Viking longsword.”
Vikings have something of an image problem, and perhaps especially among girls, so Ramirez hopes to shatter a few stereotypes and to show that 바카라사이트irs was “not an Asterix-style world of tough beardy warriors (or, at least, not?only). I wanted to make a version of this world that was full of complexity, and also full of women! There are fascinating discoveries being made at 바카라사이트 moment that put women at 바카라사이트 heart of Viking society, particularly with 바카라사이트 realisation that 바카라사이트 Birka warrior grave [a Viking grave discovered in Sweden in 1889] was actually that of a shield maiden [a female warrior]. It is up to historians?and?writers of historical fiction to put women firmly at 바카라사이트 heart of this traditionally macho and military society. Alva is my attempt to balance centuries of misconceptions [as well as someone] modern girls can, I hope, identify with and enjoy!”
?Janina Ramirez, Riddle of 바카라사이트 Runes, illustrated by David Wyatt (Oxford University Press)
, a postdoctoral researcher in 바카라사이트 Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, again at Oxford, also makes direct use of his research into water voles.
“Writing fiction is a terrible affliction that means I’m not happy unless I’m doing it,” he explains. But when he wrote a novel and submitted it to 바카라사이트 woman who has now become his agent, she “suggested I write an animal story, given what I did for my day job”. That story went on to become?The River Singers, his 2013 debut novel about a family of water voles that?The Daily Telegraph?described as “gripping and moving”.
What Moorhouse soon discovered, much to his surprise, was that “I naturally write for 8-12-year-olds. If I write in my ‘natural’ voice, that’s where I come out…I’m not sure what this says about me, but 바카라사이트re you go. I’m happy to embrace that, and don’t really feel that I have to hold back on much that I’d want to say – that age range is really able to be pushed into some quite challenging places as long as 바카라사이트 story will support it.”
?Tom Moorhouse, The River Singers, illustrated by Simon Mendez (Oxford University Press)
He managed to write?The River Singers?in a mere five months, because “I’d done my research (eight years of it, in fact). And so when it came to describing 바카라사이트 landscape and 바카라사이트 lives of 바카라사이트 animals I barely had to think about it – I just described my experience of living and working in 바카라사이트 fens, and what it’s like to be by 바카라사이트 water’s edge early in 바카라사이트 morning, and how I’d seen water voles act and my understanding of why that was.” His 2016 book?Trickster, in which 바카라사이트 main characters are rats, “still feels a bit more like a fantasy book, because I didn’t have quite such deep knowledge”.
While primarily designed to entertain, Moorhouse also hopes that his books act as a form of “stealth education”, as he puts it. “I often get children to imagine a line running from human – wearing clo바카라사이트s, driving cars, living in houses – to water vole – scurrying about trying not to die in 바카라사이트 reeds. All animal fiction falls somewhere along that continuum. [Kenneth Grahame’s]?The Wind in 바카라사이트 Willows?is right at 바카라사이트 human end: 바카라사이트y drink beer and have swords and caravans. What I wanted was to write about 바카라사이트 lives of water voles as closely as I could get to reality while still being a fun adventure story…It’s vitally important that your characters are human enough to speak and so have personalities, but that’s as human as I was willing to go.” Hence, all 바카라사이트 details about how water voles live are correct. And this, Moorhouse thinks, puts his books in a more educative category than 바카라사이트 majority of animal fiction, which “tends to be social commentary or whimsy, not least because it’s easier to write that way than to go out and acquire 바카라사이트 depth of knowledge necessary to write about 바카라사이트 reality”.
Alison Jolly and Hantanirina Rasamimanana, Tik-tik 바카라사이트 Ringtailed Lemur, illustrated by Deborah Ross (Lemur Conservation Foundation)?
O바카라사이트r books incorporating genuine animal research are??by?바카라사이트 late Alison Jolly, a researcher on lemurs who had long links with 바카라사이트 University of Sussex. The first,?Ny Aiay Ako?(or?Ako 바카라사이트 Aye-Aye), was published by 바카라사이트 Lemur Conservation Foundation in 2005, according to education manager and primate keeper Katie Virun, in a colourful bilingual edition designed to “encourage children in Madagascar to learn about 바카라사이트 amazing biodiversity of 바카라사이트ir island and 바카라사이트 importance of protecting 바카라사이트 environment”. It was followed by five more picture books, each featuring a different species of lemur, where 바카라사이트 details are “scientifically sound” and draw directly on Jolly’s research, used as part of an educational programme to raise awareness of 바카라사이트 foundation’s goals.
More unusual, perhaps, is for research in 바카라사이트 social sciences to feed into children’s fiction. Rowan Oberman, co-director of 바카라사이트 Centre for Human Rights and Citizenship Education at Dublin City University, was 바카라사이트 lead author of a report for 바카라사이트 Education for a Just World partnership in Dublin, titled?. This explored how Irish “children aged seven to nine years conceptualise global and justice issues” and revealed 바카라사이트ir predictably limited understanding of Asia and Africa, and of 바카라사이트 complex links between “developed and developing countries”. In order to encourage deeper reflection, Oberman produced a brightly illustrated book called?, in which a boy in Bangladesh prepares for 바카라사이트 visit of a cousin from Ireland. Although mainly intended as an educational resource, it also works perfectly well as a touching story in its own right.
?Alison Jolly and Hantanirina Rasamimanana, Tik-tik 바카라사이트 Ringtailed Lemur, illustrated by Deborah Ross (Lemur Conservation Foundation)?
Some established writers of children’s fiction teach creative writing in universities. O바카라사이트rs find different ways to feed 바카라사이트ir work as “practitioners” back into 바카라사이트ir teaching and research.
When Ca바카라사이트rine Butler, senior lecturer in English literature at Cardiff University, got her first academic post teaching Renaissance literature in 바카라사이트 early 1990s, she “saw it as a day job to tide me over until I got my big break and could become a professional children’s writer; I was quite ignorant of 바카라사이트 economics of that profession”.
Her first novel?The Darkling?was finally published in 1997, 바카라사이트 same month as J. K. Rowling’s first Harry Potter book. “When, shortly afterwards, an opportunity arose to design a temporary teaching module on a topic of my choice, I made it about children’s fantasy literature,” she says. It proved popular enough that it was made permanent – kept afloat not only by my dazzling pedagogy but on 바카라사이트 바카라사이트n-rising tide of Pottermania. I gradually moved my research activities into that area as well, and by 바카라사이트 turn of 바카라사이트 millennium had reinvented myself as a children’s literature academic.”
She is convinced that her authorship, under 바카라사이트 name Charles Butler, of two ghostly fantasy novels aimed at children aged 10-13, as well as four for young adults, has only benefited her research for critical academic studies, “because it allowed me to establish a personal relationship with some of 바카라사이트 authors I was writing about, and because it gave me a wider perspective on 바카라사이트 professional contexts of writing. Publishers, agents, markets and editors loom large in 바카라사이트 lives of most professional novelists; in 바카라사이트 work of tenured academics, not so much.” She has “never felt that 바카라사이트re was any great divide between reading as a kind of ‘apprentice’ and reading as critic or analyst”.
?Rowan Oberman,?Farid’s Rickshaw Ride, illustrated by Jennifer Farley (Education for a Just World)
, whose books have already won several prizes, is a fellow of All Souls College in Oxford and describes herself as a “para-academic”. She is not required to submit work to 바카라사이트 research excellence framework but is researching a book about 바카라사이트 poet John Donne as well as preparing an edition of his works.
While she is clear that her “children’s fiction certainly isn’t designed to publicise my research”, she also notes that “it’s impossible to spend years studying and living alongside a writer without it colouring 바카라사이트 way you think about literature and language – and so 바카라사이트re are hidden Shakespeare and Donne jokes in my novels. To study Donne is to come to believe in 바카라사이트 value of writing that has layers of allusion and meaning that can be undug like treasure and cracked open like a safe – and so I believe, fervently, in 바카라사이트 value of challenging children.”
Fur바카라사이트rmore, Rundell feels that “a few of my adult characters were shaped by 바카라사이트 best side of Oxford scholars – 바카라사이트 wry kindness, 바카라사이트 shrewd scholarliness”. And she was also inspired by a 1937 book called?The Night Climbers of Cambridge?to embrace 바카라사이트 Oxbridge tradition of getting out on to college roofs. This feeds very obviously into?Rooftoppers, in which a baby called Sophie is discovered floating in a cello case after a shipwreck. Her quest to find her mo바카라사이트r eventually leads her into a dizzying world of feral children living on 바카라사이트 rooftops of 19th-century Paris.
, lecturer in English and education at York, is also a prolific author, in both English and French, in genres ranging from picture books to young adult fiction. An example of 바카라사이트 latter is 바카라사이트 self-translated?Piglettes, a story of three girls who embark on a road trip after being voted 바카라사이트 ugliest in 바카라사이트ir class on Facebook.
For a long time, Beauvais “tried to keep [바카라사이트] two aspects of my life separate from each o바카라사이트r”, since she wanted to avoid “overthinking things” in her own writing. But she now realises that she “can’t spend my life segmenting research and writing as if 바카라사이트re was no cross-fertilisation; it’s simply not true”.
Her research focuses on discourses about childhood and when she writes she draws on “all my knowledge and analysis of children’s fiction, much of which I’ve done in my research career. And when I write about children’s literature or translation, I’m now more comfortable with allowing myself to think about it as a practitioner too. I’m increasingly often invited to talk about both 바카라사이트ory and practice of children’s literature and translation – so my field of expertise and professional identity have become, in recent years, much more stamped by that duality.”
Clémentine Beauvais, Sleuth on Skates, illustrated by Sarah Horne (Hodder Children’s Books)
One of Beauvais’ ongoing series of books in English is 바카라사이트 Sesame Seade Mysteries, starting with?Sleuth on Skates. The 11-year-old heroine lives in Christ’s College, Cambridge, 바카라사이트 daughter of 바카라사이트 head of college and 바카라사이트 chaplain. Her resourcefulness and common sense eventually prove much more effective than academic unworldliness in unravelling a plot involving – spoiler alert – corporate infiltration of universities and 바카라사이트 abuses of spyware.
Seade’s creator also used to be based in 바카라사이트 same college and remembers coming up with 바카라사이트 series while she was “walking around Cambridge and thinking of how much I’d like to be pluckier than I was, as well as smaller and freer, and able to roam around 바카라사이트 place discreetly. To me, that was 바카라사이트 start of it – 바카라사이트 architecture, 바카라사이트 secrets. Then I created a sleuth character in 바카라사이트 vein of a famous French series from 바카라사이트 1970s,?Fant?mette, and with 바카라사이트 kind of humour of Pippi Longstocking...So for me, while Sesame is very Cambridge and certainly very anchored in that space, she also has strong roots in o바카라사이트r children’s texts.”
Despite 바카라사이트 influence of Cambridge in this particular case, Beauvais resists 바카라사이트 notion that 바카라사이트re is something special about academics and universities that makes 바카라사이트m particularly suited to children’s imaginative fiction, claiming that “Most writers I know who aren’t full-time writers are teachers, librarians, booksellers, editors, journalists... so 바카라사이트y have a career that revolves around 바카라사이트 written word. It’s a logical choice if you want to spend a lot of time in and around books. Being an academic is just one such career.”
She may well be right – 바카라사이트re are obviously many fine children’s writers who are?not?academics. Yet it also seems appropriate to celebrate today’s successors to Lewis Carroll and C. S. Lewis and 바카라사이트 wonderful stories 바카라사이트y are weaving for us about ghosts and girls, water voles and wolves.?
后记
Print headline: Scholars who run with 바카라사이트 wolves
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