1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910778924803321

Autore

Blackford Holly Virginia

Titolo

The myth of Persephone in girls' fantasy literature / / Holly Virginia Blackford

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York : , : Routledge, , 2012

ISBN

1-136-64427-X

1-283-44269-8

9786613442697

0-203-80489-9

1-136-64428-8

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (251 p.)

Collana

Children's literature and culture ; ; 80

Disciplina

823/.087660992827

Soggetti

Girls in literature

Myth in literature

Persephone (Greek deity) in literature

Children's stories, English - History and criticism

Children's stories, American - History and criticism

Children's stories - History and criticism

Fantasy fiction, English - History and criticism

Fantasy fiction, American - History and criticism

Child psychology in literature

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction: Reaching for the narcissus: Byronic boys, toys, and the plight of Persephone -- Unearthing the child underworld: the history of Persephone and developmental psychology -- Toying with Persephone: Herr Drosselmeier and Marie in E. T. A. Hoffmann's Nutcracker and Mouse King -- Jo's sensational boy and the gift of Amy's soul in Louisa May Alcott's Little women (1868-1869) -- Lost girls, underworld queens in J.M. Barrie's Peter and Wendy (1911) and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights -- Eleusinian mysteries in Frances Hodgson Burnett's The secret garden -- The Byronic woman: E.B. White's Charlotte's web -- The riddle of feminine criture in J.K. Rowling's Harry



Potter and The chamber of secrets -- Divorce and other mothers: Stephenie Meyer's Twilight (2005) and Neil Gaiman's Coraline.

Sommario/riassunto

In this book, Blackford historicizes the appeal of the Persephone myth in the nineteenth century and traces figurations of Persephone, Demeter, and Hades throughout girls' literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She illuminates developmental patterns and anxieties in E. T. A. Hoffmann's Nutcracker and Mouse King, Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, Emily Brontèˆ's Wuthering Heights, J. M. Barrie's Peter and Wendy, Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden, E. B. White's Charlotte's Web, J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and t