Title

Innocence Heterosexuality And The Queerness Of Children'S Literature

Abstract

Innocence, Heterosexuality, and the Queerness of Children's Literature examines distinguished classics of children's literature both old and new-including L. Frank Baum's Oz books, Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series, J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, and Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series-to explore the queer tensions between innocence and heterosexuality within their pages. Pugh argues that children cannot retain their innocence of sexuality while learning about normative heterosexuality, yet this inherent paradox runs throughout many classic narratives of literature for young readers. Children's literature typically endorses heterosexuality through its invisible presence as the de facto sexual identity of countless protagonists and their families, yet heterosexuality's ubiquity is counterbalanced by its occlusion when authors shield their readers from forthright considerations of one of humanity's most basic and primal instincts. The book demonstrates that tensions between innocence and sexuality render much of children's literature queer, especially when these texts disavow sexuality through celebrations of innocence. In this original study, Pugh develops interpretations of sexuality that few critics have yet ventured, paving the way for future scholarly engagement with larger questions about the ideological role of children's literature and representations of children's sexuality.

Publication Date

12-14-2010

Publication Title

Innocence Heterosexuality and the Queerness of Children's Literature

Number of Pages

1-206

Document Type

Article; Book Chapter

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203831410

Socpus ID

84917022866 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/84917022866

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