New Directions in Children's Gothic: Debatable Lands (Children's Literature and Culture)

Children's literature today is dominated by the gothic mode, and it is in children's gothic fictions that we find the implications of cultural change most radically questioned and explored. This collection of essays looks at what is happening in the children's Gothic now when traditional monsters have become the heroes, when new monsters have come into play, when globalisation brings Harry Potter into China and yaoguai into the children's Gothic, and when childhood itself and children's literature as a genre can no longer be thought of as an uncontested space apart from the debates and power struggles of an adult domain. We look in detail at series such as The Mortal Instruments, Twilight, Chaos Walking, The Power of Five, Skulduggery Pleasant, and Cirque du Freak; at novels about witches and novels about changelings; at the Gothic in China, Japan and Oceania; and at authors including Celia Rees, Frances Hardinge, Alan Garner and Laini Taylor amongst many others. At a time when the energies and anxieties of children's novels can barely be contained anymore within the genre of children's literature, spilling over into YA and adult literature, we need to pay attention. Weird things are happening and they matter. 1. 'Do panic. They're coming' : remaking the weird in contemporary children's fiction / Chloe Buckley -- 2. Cuckoo songs : the changeling as hero / Geoffrey Miles -- 3. 'These are troubling, confusing times' : Darren Shan's Cirque du Freak as post-9/11 gothic / Phillip Serrato -- 4. Figuring the witch / David Punter -- 5. Ghostly vestiges of strange tales : horror, history and the haunted Chinese child / You Chengcheng -- 6. Girls in lace dresses : the intersections of gothic in Japanese youth fiction and fashion / Emerald L. King and Lucy Fraser -- 7. The gothic in oceania / Erin Mercer -- 8. 'The gothic is part of history, just as history is part of the gothic' : gothicizing history and historicizing the gothic in Celia Rees' young adult fiction / Catherine Spooner -- 9. Adolescent angels and demons : the religious imagination in young adult gothic literature / Rebecca Wigginton -- 10. 'Mind to mind' : the gothic loss of privacy in the Twilight saga and Chaos walking trilogy / Alexandra Valint -- 11. 'THIS HILL IS STILL DANGEROUS' : Alan Garner's Weirdstone trilogy - a hauntology / Timothy Jones Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents List of Figures Series Editor’s Foreword Acknowledgements New Directions in Children’s Gothic: Debatable Lands 1 ‘Do Panic. They’re Coming’: Remaking the Weird in Contemporary Children’s Fiction 2 Cuckoo Songs: The Changeling as Hero 3 ‘These are troubling, confusing times’: Darren Shan’s Cirque du Freak as Post-9/11 Gothic 4 Figuring the Witch 5 Ghostly Vestiges of Strange Tales: Horror, History and the Haunted Chinese Child 6 Girls in Lace Dresses: The Intersections of Gothic in Japanese Youth Fiction and Fashion 7 The Gothic in Oceania 8 ‘The Gothic is part of history, just as history is part of the Gothic’: Gothicizing History and Historicizing the Gothic in Celia Rees’ Young Adult Fiction 9 Adolescent Angels and Demons: The Religious Imagination in Young Adult Gothic Literature 10 ‘Mind to Mind’: The Gothic Loss of Privacy in the Twilight Saga and Chaos Walking Trilogy 11 ‘THIS HILL IS STILL DANGEROUS’: Alan Garner’s Weirdstone Trilogy – A Hauntology List of Contributors Index Edited By Anna Jackson. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.