Ethics in British Children's Literature: Unexamined Life (Bloomsbury Perspectives on Children's Literature)

Featuring Close Readings Of Selected Poetry, Visual Texts, Short Stories And Novels Published For Children Since 1945, From Naughty Amelia Jane To Watership Down, This Is The First Extensive Study Of The Nature And Form Of Ethical Discourse In British Children's Literature. Ethics In British Children's Literature Explores The Extent To Which Contemporary Writing For Children Might Be Considered Philosophical, Tackling Ethical Spheres Relevant To And Arising From Books For Young People, Such As Naughtiness, Good And Evil, Family Life And Environmental Ethics. Rigorously Engaging With Influential Moral Philosophers, From Aristotle, Through Kant And Hegel, To Arno Leopold, Iris Murdoch, Mary Midgley And Lars Svendsen, This Book Demonstrates The Narrative Strategies Employed To Engage Young Readers As Moral Agents. Figures -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction : Unexamined Life In The Inferno -- The Sin Of Indifference (part I) : Beyond Naughty -- The Sin Of Indifference (part Ii) : Discovering Evil -- Moral Ammunition : Growing Out Of Dissatisfaction Through Ethical Life -- Midnight Philosophy And Environmental Ethics -- The Making Of Monsters : Duty, Gender, And The Rightness Of Wrong Law Breaking -- The Greatness Of Apple Seeds : Ehtical Relationships In Miniature Literature -- Conclusion : Through The Library ... Towards A Life Examined -- Notes -- References -- Index. Lisa Sainsbury. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover HalfTitle Series Title Copyright Dedication Contents Figures Acknowledgements Introduction Unexamined Life in The Inferno Ethical exchange Ethics in British Children’s Literature: Coming to terms 1 The Sin of Indifference (Part I): Beyond Naughty Indifferent territory Reading naughtiness The badness in between The ever-present danger of indifference 2 The Sin of Indifference (Part II): Discovering Evil A thousand diabolical expressions Rebuttable presumptions The death of childhood Touching evil The poetry of evil 3 Moral Ammunition: Growing Out of Dissatisfaction through Ethical Life Fighting for right Genre and the radicalization of family 4 Midnight Philosophy and Environmental Ethics A land ethic in the making Biotic communities Epiphany in green Paper-makery 5 The Making of Monsters: Duty, Gender, and the Rightness of Wrong Law breaking Alone about The Chase Redeeming care Flourishing futures New consequences 6 The Greatness of Apple Seeds: Ethical Relationships in Miniature Literature Conclusion: Through the Library . . . Towards a Life Examined Notes References Index Featuring close readings of a comprehensive range of texts, from The Borrowers to the Harry Potter novels, this is the first comprehensive survey of the development and nature of ethical discourse in post-war British childrens literature. Through close-reading of a wide range of texts, this study explores the development and nature of ethical discourse in post-war British children's literature