Secularism
According to Taylor, secularism – which he perceives as a transfer of religion from the public to the private sphere – is a main characteristic of modern European societies (cf. Taylor 2007). The shift of religion is of utmost significance for the analysis of children’s and young adult literature, since it was utilised as a means for religious education from its very beginning. Within British children’s and young adult literature, prominent figures in the late 17th century and early 18th century are James Janeway and Isaac Watts or the evangelically informed authors Sarah Trimmer, Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Maria Sherwood or Hannah More in the late 18th and early 19th century. Now and then the literary historiography of children’s and young adult literature describes a turn from religiousness to an increasing secularism, which is becomes especially apparent in the changing significance and evaluation of the genre fantasy. Accordingly, a number of studies examine the religious elements in fantastic writing for children and young adults, which predominantly deal with the depiction of the authors’ religious, confessional ideas as well as ideas critical of religion. These approaches are more or less broadly classed with the study of motifs and symbols.
The text corpus for the historically oriented subproject is comprised of 19th and 21st century fantastic literature as well as texts from the 18th century, which either display fantastic elements or examine the relation of fantasy and reality within the narrative. Some of these narratives also address the relation between the individual or society and religion.
The subprojects within the frame of this aspect are to exceed the previous case studies and integrate the question of secularism within the larger context of the modern West European social imaginaries. As a result, those authors and author groups (e.g. George MacDonald, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Philip Pullman), which previously have been examined as individual case studies, will be positioned within a broader cultural context. Due to the popularity of these texts and their close affiliation to myths, it will be possible to give a more comprehensive assessment to their relation with the imaginary.
A diachronic approach is of utmost importance for the interrogation of the shift of religion from the public to the private sphere in his section, which traces when and in which form such tendencies towards secularism become visible. Therefore, it is to be reassessed whether the history of British children’s and young adult literature can actually be described as a general process towards secularism. Moreover, possible questions are whether the genre as such already constitutes an indication for secularization, or whether a concurrence of secular and anti-secular tendencies can be detected. The synchronic axis concerns itself with the relation between secularism and fundamentalism as well as the depiction of religious plurality within secular societies. It is to be examined in each subproject, to what extent the canonical status of texts within children’s and young adult literature serves as an indicator for Taylor’s understanding of secularism, which he sees as a fundamental marker of identity for modern West European societies. By reversing these interrogations, it is to be seen whether the granting of international canonicity automatically presupposes narratives modes of secularism, for instance for the purpose of classics of European children’s and young adult literature.
PhD Project
Secularity and Mentorship in Fantastic British Children’s Literature – From Authority to Plurality? (Arbeitstitel)
This thesis examines various forms of mentorship in fantastic children’s and young adult literature, and looks in how far the moral orders intrinsic to the texts are indicative of religiously informed narratives and motifs. Especially the third key aspect of Charles Taylor’s observations on secularism is of interest here, since it points to a simultaneity of belief and unbelief which is also evident in the plurality of secular moral orders in children’s literature. While nineteenth century children’s literature is marked by a development towards secularity, it also reveals an increasing acceptance of fantastic elements, which shows for instance in Charles Kingsley’s The Water-Babies (1863), Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and George MacDonald’s At the Back of the North Wind (1871). Another aspect in connection to secularity is the disenchantment inherent to modern societies. According to Taylor, the disempowerment of belief towards moral orders purely based on reason require a reenchantment of society, which is realised through secular rituals or myths as part of the social imaginary. In this sense, fantastic children’s literature can be understood as identity-establishing element of the social imaginary, which contributes to a reenchantment of societal collectives.
Accordingly, the aspect of secularism plays an immensely important role for fantastic children’s literature and hints at a paradigm shift from the religious towards the secular. While some classics of children’s literature are marked by Christian dogmas, they can also be understood on a purely secular level. Indeed, these fantastic mentors can be regarded as secular agents, which nevertheless also reveal characteristics of religious archetypes. Therefore, this thesis categorizes a variety of mentor figures, which reveals the wide range of authority hierarchies between mentor and protégé. The categorization of these mentors predominantly draws on traditional models, for instance on the character of the English nanny, e.g. P.L. Travers‘ Mary Poppins series (1934-88) or Chris Riddell’s Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse (2007). Further popular mentors can be found in the school story, which emphasizes the spiritual guidance of the protégé within the teacher-pupil relationship, visible e.g. in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series (1997-2007).