Crossing the borderlines of reality in 20th c. British childr. lit. Any books you recommend?

Question

I'd like to write my thesis on it, now I'm collecting material. If you can, pls give me some titles or points to examine. Ta, to all.

Answer 1

Peter Pan, The Wind in the Willows, and Winnie the Pooh come to mind as older fantasy titles published in the 20th century. Mid-century, I'd say Tolkien & Lewis have to be included. I absolutely loved Narnia.

As far as other writers are concerned...

Brian Jacques (Redwall Series)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Jacques

Susan Cooper (The Dark Is Rising sequence)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Cooper

Roald Dahl
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Dahl

E. Nesbit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._Nesbit
(She also popularized an innovative style of children's fantasy that combined realistic, contemporary children in real-world settings with magical objects and adventures. In doing so, she was a direct or indirect influence on many subsequent writers, including P.L. Travers (author of Mary Poppins), Edward Eager, Diana Wynne Jones and J.K. Rowling. C.S. Lewis wrote of her influence on his Narnia series and mentions the Bastable children in The Magician's Nephew. Michael Moorcock wrote a series of steampunk novels with an adult Oswald Bastable (of The Treasure Seekers) as the lead character.)

Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Pullman

Robin McKinley
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_McKinley

Answer 2

Fascinating project.

I categorize British children's literature, beginning in 1850, into four distinct periods, though of course there is considerable overlap.

1. The Golden Age. Major authors: Charles Kingsley, George MacDonald, and the outlander, Lewis Carroll. Pure fantasy, childhood innocence, high moral tone, reminiscent of a lost "golden age," magical world (" a wonderland"), children are children and adults are more or less irrelevant.

2. The Silver Age. Major authors: Kenneth Grahame, E. Nesbit, R. L. Stevenson, Beatrix Potter, P. L. Travers, Mary Norton. Sense of humor, children are more realistic (=mischievous), not moralistic, ordinary world but w/ magic elements, children are children and adults (or adult-like characters) tend to be intrusive and must be escaped or kept uninformed.

American cousins: L. Frank Baum, Carl Sandburg (Rootabaga Stories), Dr. Seuss.

3. The Iron Age. Major authors: J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, T. H. White. Recapturing the lost golden age, but with its darker aspects (overshadowed by a world at war); children very real both morally and psychologically; villains also very real and sometimes victorious; magical worlds that are recognizable metaphors for our world; adult characters range from sages and wizards to demons and wicked witches.

4. Chromium Age. Major authors: Roald Dahl, Dianna Wynn Jones, Philip Pullman, Eva Ibbotson, Brian Jacques, Robin Jarvis, the outlander Eoin Colfer, and perhaps the YA fantasist/realist David Almond, and of course J. K. Rowling. Modern children not matter what the setting, often cheeky and smart-mouth; comic and satiric elements, often written on two levels (one for children, one for their adults); children characters more sophisticated than some adults; genuine evil and sometimes surprising/shocking setbacks, suffering and death; more cinematic, with quick cuts and unstated links, so more complex in a simplistic kind of way; dark underground or outlandish world, in but not of the real world; humor, toughness, good will, idealism, and certain tinge of underlying cynicism.