Roaring, Golden, or Radical? The 1920s in International Children's Literature

Dear Colleagues,

The 1920s have often been called the ‘Golden Twenties’, ‘the Roaring Twenties’, ‘the Jazz Age’, the ‘Années Folles’ and the time of ‘Art Renaissance’, but in many countries it has also been the time of (post-)revolution, of (financial) crisis, and of a struggle for independence.

The impact of this political, social, and cultural situation on children’s literature is manifold, ranging from urbanization, decolonization, general strikes, fascism, communism, women’s suffrage, and progressive education related to the discussion of fashion, it-girls, film stars, and popular sports.

Compared to what is often called the golden age of children’s literature, the interwar period saw a slow-down in output of children’s literature in some countries, while it flourished in others. However, various new (popular) genres emerged and many authors of adult books also wrote for children, especially in the contexts of the avant-garde and the progressive educational movement.

This volume seeks to unite different international and transnational perspectives on the 1920s, covering a wide range of literature that is regarded as ‘canonic’, ‘popular’, ‘radical’ or avant-gardist.

The aim of this Special Issue is to encourage new readings of children’s media of the 1920s in a cross-border context, considering international movements and networks as well as discussing the impact of rising nationalism and nationalist stereotypes. We would like to encourage comparative, translational, and transmedia approaches and perspectives on children’s media and material culture of the era.

References:

Druker, E./Kümmerling-Meibauer, B. (eds.) (2015): Children's Literature and the Avant-Garde, Amsterdam/Philadelphia, John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Papers may address topics such as:

• The 1920s as a historical and nostalgic setting (e.g., Patricia Hruby Powell/Christian Robinson: Josephine; J.K. Rowling: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them; Libba Bray: The Diviners).
• Media and medialization (e.g., radio, dance, film).
• Materiality (picture books, the progressive educational movement).
• Economy and financial crisis (the children’s book market, money, and the economy as topics in children’s books).
• Children’s literature and the avant-garde (e.g., El Lissitzky, Kurt Schwitters, Lou Scheper-Berkenkamp, Lou Loeber, Einar Nerman, Vladimir Lebedev, Samuil Maršak, Daniil Charms).
• Radical children’s literature (e.g., Makimoto Kusorō, Hermynia Zur Mühlen, Bertha Lask, Alfred Kreymborg, W.E.B. Du Bois, Vladimir Mayakovski).
• Genres (crime fiction, school novels, fairy tales, etc.).
• Periodicals (such as The Brownies’ Book, Mouchak, Der heitere Fridolin and Orini, Josch and Tschisch).
• Canon, canonization, and touchstones (A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh, Erich Kästner’s Emil and the Detectives, Monteiro Lobato’s Sítio do Picapau Amarelo, Hugh Lofting’s The Story of Dr. Doolittle, Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Emily Series, Dhan Gopal Mukerji’s Gay-Neck, the Story of a Pigeon, Ida Rentoul Outhwaite’s The Enchanted Forest or Janusz Korczak Król Maciuś, Hendrik Willem van Loon The Story of Mankind, the picturebooks by Elsa Beskow, etc.).

Please submit a 300-word abstract and short bio to [email protected] and [email protected] by 8/1/21. Successful applicants will be notified by 8/12/21. Papers for the special issue of Humanities are due by 2/1/22. Length of the article: 6000-7000 words.

Dr. Julia Benner
Dr. Christine Lötscher
Guest Editors

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• comparative literature
• children’s and young adult literature
• literature, culture, socio-politics, history, and economics of the 1920s
• media and materiality