The Myth of Cokaygne in Children's Literature : The Consuming and the Consumed Child. Masterarbeit (ALPH: Arbeiten zur Literarischen Phantastik / ALPH: Approaches to Literary Phantasy .6) （2011. 122 S. 210 mm）

Burstyn, Franziska

PETER LANG（2011発売）

• 製本 Paperback:紙装版/ペーパーバック版／ページ数 122 p.
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9783631614235

Full Description

In the English-speaking world, the medieval concept of Cokaygne as a paradisiac landscape made of food is merely preserved as a part of American folklore, the «Big Rock Candy Mountain». This motif of food in abundance is recurrent in children's literature, which is discussed here first of all from a psychoanalytic angle, arguing that the infant's first contact with the world is established through food intake. In addition, a scarce diet as part of child-rearing in the 19th century and the rationing system during World War II triggered the fantasy in children and adults alike. Accordingly, the medieval land of plenty found a new place in the imagination of the Victorian and post-war child. Apart from the predominant theme of the consuming child, this book also links the notion of cannibalism to the imagined cornucopia of food in children's literature, which is a frequent motif in many children's books up to the 21st century.

Contents

Contents: The Myth of Cokaygne - Literary References - An Etymological Approach to 'Cokaygne' - The Carnivalesque - Historical Background - Significant Elements of the Land of Plenty - Children and Food - A Psychoanalytical Approach - A History of Abstinence - The Land of Cokaygne in Children's Literature - The Domestic Cokaygne - Never-Ending Food Supply - The Land of Plenty - Cokaygne Reversed: The Child as an Object of Indulgence - A Socio-historical Approach to Cannibalism - The Fear of Child-Eaters - Wicked Witches - Gruesome Giants - The Starving Child in a World of Abundance.