Title: Children's fiction about 9/11
Subtitle: ethnic, heroic and national identities
First published: 2009
Description: "In this study, Lampert examines how cultural identities are constructed within fictonal texts for young people written about the attacks on the Twin Towers. It identifies three significant identity categories encoded in 9/11 books for children: ethnic identities, national identities, and heroic identities, arguing that the indentities formed within the selected children's text are in flux, privileging performances of identities that are contingent upon post-9/11 politics. Looking at examples including picture books, young adult novels, and a selection of DC Comics, Lampert finds in post 9/11 children's literature a co-mingling of xenophobia and tolerance, the binaried competition between good and evil and global harmony and national insularity, and the glorification of both the commonplace hero and the super-human. The shifting identities evident in texts that are being produced for children about 9/11 offer implicit and explicit accounts of what constitute good citizenship, loyalty to nation and community, and desirable attributes in a Western post-9/11 context. This book makes an original contribution to the field of children's literature by providing a focused and sustained analysis of how texts for children about 9/11 contribute to formations of identity in these complex times of cultural unease and global unrest." --Book Jacket.
Subjects: History and criticism, September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001, in literature, National characteristics, American, in literature, Children's stories, American, Ethnicity in literature, Heroes in literature, Group identity in literature, Children's stories, Commonwealth (English), In literature, Children's literature, history and criticism, National characteristics in literature, United states, in literature, American fiction, history and criticism, 21st century, Histoires pour enfants américaines, Histoire et critique, Histoires pour enfants du Commonwealth (anglaises), Attentats du 11 septembre 2001, États-Unis, dans la littérature, Ethnicité dans la littérature, Identité collective dans la littérature, Héros dans la littérature, LITERARY CRITICISM, American, General, Literature, September 11 Terrorist Attacks (2001) in literature
Places: United States
LC classification: PS374.S445 L36 2009