The Future of the Nineteenth-Century Dream-Child

Fantasy, Dystopia, Cyberculture
1. Auflage 2019
ISBN: 978-0-367-34622-5
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 192 Seiten, Format (B × H): 229 mm x 155 mm, Gewicht: 282 g

Reihe: Children's Literature and Culture

This book investigates the reappearance of the 19th-century dream-child from the Golden Age of Children's Literature, both in the Harry Potter series and in other works that have reached unprecedented levels of popular success today. Discussing Harry Potter as a reincarnation of Lewis Carroll's Alice and J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, Billone goes on to examine the recent resurrection of Alice in Tim Burton's Alice, and of Peter Pan in Michael Jackson and in James Bond. Visiting trends that have emerged since the Harry Potter series ended, the book studies revisions of the dream-child in texts and films that have inspired mass fandom in the twenty-first century: Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, E.L. James's 50 Shades of Grey and Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games. The volume argues that the 21st-century desire to achieve dream-states in relationship to eternal youth results from the way that dreams provide a means of realizing the fantastic yet alarming possibility of escaping from time. This current identification with the dream-child stems from the threat of political unrest and economic and environmental collapse as well as from the simultaneous technophilia and technophobia of a culture immersed in the breathless revolution of the digital age. This book not only explores how the dream-child from the past has returned to reflect misgivings about imagined dystopian futures but also reveals how the rebirth of the dream-child opens up possibilities for new narratives where happy endings remain viable against all odds. It will appeal to scholars in a wide variety of fields including Childhood Studies, Children's/YA Literature, Cinema Studies, Cultural Studies, Cyberculture, Gender Studies, Queer Studies, Gothic Studies, New Media, and Popular Culture.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Billone, Amy (University of Tennessee, USA)

Billone, Amy

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Freizeitsoziologie, Konsumsoziologie, Alltagssoziologie, Populärkultur
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Kinder- und Jugendliteratur, Märchen, Mythen, Sagen
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft | Kulturwissenschaften Populärkultur
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literarische Gattungen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: "I Open at the Close": In the Wake of Harry Potter 1. "Quicker and Easier than Falling Asleep": Harry Potter, Dreams and Specters from the Past 2. Sentenced to Neverland: Three Contemporary Resurrections of Carroll’s Alice and Barrie’s Peter Pan 3. From Twilight to Fifty Shades Freed: "Childhood is the Kingdom where Nobody Dies" 4. "Keep Your Eyes Open": Dreams, Alertness and Innocence in the 21st Century Conclusion: The After-Life of the Dream-Child

Über Autor(innen)

Amy Billone, Associate Professor of English at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, specializes in the long nineteenth century and Children’s and Young Adult Literature. Her many publications include Little Songs: Women, Silence, and the Nineteenth-Century Sonnet (2007) and the Introduction and Notes for Peter Pan (Barnes and Noble Classics, 2005).