Literature & society

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Adaptation

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Adaptation implies the ability to evolve and change according to changing environments and demands. It is an ongoing process in all parts of the world and can be applied to many different fields. The term arises in regards to, for example, biological processes, technological advancements or reworkings in the arts (film or literature).

Dual Readership

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Dual Readership refers to the process of constructing a work or text, also called crossover literature, which can play to two different levels of understanding for various audiences. This practice is most commonly employed in children’s literature.

BookTube

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BookTube is a community on YouTube that focuses primarily on creating content, specifically videos, around the subject of literature and book-related subjects.

Fairy Tale

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A fairy tale is a work of literature that is set in a fictional world and typically incorporates magical elements.

Postcolonialism in Children’s Literature

Wiki
Postcolonialism in children’s literature refers to literary works created for children by individuals living in former colonies. This term can also be applied to the analysis and reinterpretation of literary works written from a Western perspective, to present diverse viewpoints.

BookTok

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BookTok is a sub-community of TikTok that caters to book enthusiasts. Here, they can share their book reviews, recommendations, and other book-related content.

Agency in Children's Literature

Wiki
Agency in children's literature refers to the empowerment and independence of children's characters. It involves portraying children as active participants in their own lives, capable of making choices, influencing their surroundings, and shaping their destinies.

Agency

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Agency is the ability of individuals to act independently and of their own volition.

Refugee Literature

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Refugee literature refers to literary works, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and other forms of written expression, that focus on the experiences of refugees. These works often explore the challenges, struggles, and triumphs of individuals or groups who have been forced to leave their homes due to conflict, persecution, or other forms of hardship.

Metaphor

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A metaphor is a trope, or a figure of speech, that directly refers to one thing by mentioning features of another one; an object, or an idea, is viewed as a metaphor which offers people new ways of examining ideas and viewing the world.

YA novel

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Young Adults novel (shortened as YA novel) is a literature subcategory within the Young Adult fiction genre. The concept of the young adult (YA) refers to adolescence and youth, though it is very context-dependent. According to the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) YA books are those aimed at people from 12 to 18 years old (teenagers). In most of the cases, the protagonists of the novels fall within those age ranges, and the story is told through teenage eyes.

Graphic Novel

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Graphic novels are a contemporary literature form of long stories told in comics format. They have the same characteristics of comics: multimodality, cartooning techniques and elements (panels, gutters).

Comics

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Comics (generally referring to comic books and comic strips) are a popular form of visual storytelling that combines still images and text.

Picturebook

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The picturebook is a storytelling medium that presents its text in both verbal and visual language. According to Barbara Bader (1976), a picturebook is words and illustrations in a total design, “an item of manufacture and a commercial product; a social, cultural, historic document; and foremost, an experience for a [reader / beholder]. As an art form it hinges on the interdependence of pictures and words, on the simultaneous display of two facing pages, and on the drama of the turning page” (ibid., p.1).

Young Adult

Wiki
The concept of the ‘young adult’, also synonymous with adolescence and youth, is one which is heavily context-dependent. Over time, the perception of the concept has shifted from merely a developmental outlook to one which is also bound by a socio-cultural understanding. Broadly, it is believed to be a stage between childhood and adulthood, and is influenced by several social, economical and cultural factors.

Orientalism

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Orientalism refers to a long tradition of Western representations of the Orient as exotic and 'non-coeval' with the West.

Where is the Eco-anxiety in Children’s Literature?

Academic paper
Suzanne van der Beek
26/08/2024
26 minutes to read

This article proposes that Bould’s concept of the “Anthropocene unconscious” helps us to recognize the latent eco-anxiety in two popular works of fiction for young readers: Rowling's Harry Potter series and Schaap's Lampje

Lies, Laws, and Literature: What Franz Kafka Teaches Us about Power and Politics Today

Article
Katherine Huber
17/06/2024
11 minutes to read

What can we learn about contemporary by reading the work of Franz Kafka? In this article, Kate Huber and Odile Heynders address The Trial, pro-palestine protests, The Metamorphosis and the toeslagenaffaire.

Portrait Anne Frank

Anne Frank - myth or author?

Paper
Kirsten Verbeek
10/05/2024
16 minutes to read

In this article, we analyze whether the American image of Anne Frank connects to her self-posture in her life narrative 'Het Achterhuis'. Since there is little connection between the two, we conclude that the American image has become a myth.

Keep on Reading Fiction. 2023 in three fictional novels

Column
Odile Heynders
22/12/2023
6 minutes to read

The Orphanage by Serhi Zhadan, Tremor by Teju Cole, and The End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck are literary texts that put 2023 in perspective. How does literature counterbalance oversimplification in the complicated times we live in?

The bleeding heart of Sayat Nova : the intermediality of cinema portrayed through the Color of Pomegranates

Article
Mikaela Raeva
19/01/2024
12 minutes to read

In this article the intermedial nature of cinema is showcased through an analysis of the 1969 movie The Color of Pomegranates, which places emphasis on visual language and audience interpretation as crucial to its meaning. 

"Can A Dog be Twins?" and Other Questions No One Is Talking About

Paper
Clara Daniels
30/10/2023
8 minutes to read

"Can A Dog be Twins?" Is all it takes for the main character to blow up online, to travel the world attending conferences to talk about how the internet has changed, transformed, yes, revolutionised communication! Yet all WE get is memes