Bloody murder : the homicide tradition in children's literature / Michelle Ann Abate.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Abate, Michelle Ann, 1975-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Children's literature, English--History and criticism.

Children's literature, English.

Children's literature, American--History and criticism.

Children's literature, American.

Homicide in literature.

Crime in popular culture--United States--History.

Crime in popular culture.

Literature and society--United States--History.

Literature and society.

Social values in literature.

Murder in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (279 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Abate argues that when narratives for children are considered along with other representations of homicide in the United States, they not only provide a more accurate portrait of the range, depth, and variety of crime literature, they alter existing ideas about the meaning of violence, the emotional appeal of fear, and the cultural construction of death and dying.

Contents:

Once upon a crime: homicide in American culture and popular children's literature from "Bluebeard" to Harry Potter

"You must kill her and bring me her lungs and liver as proof": "Snow White" and the fact as well as fantasy of filicide

"The queen had only one way of settling all difficulties... 'off with his head!' ": Alice's adventures in Wonderland and the anti-gallows movement

"Swarthy, sun-tanned, villainous looking fellows": Tarzan of the apes and criminal anthropology

"A sixth sense seemed to tell her that she had encountered something unusual": psychic sleuthing in the Nancy Drew mystery series

"How'd you like that haircut to begin just below the chin?": juvenile delinquency, teenager killers and a pulp aesthetic in the Outsiders

"My job is... to make you a human being in the eyes of the jury": confronting the dramatization-and demonization-of murder in Walter Dean Myers' monster

Epilogue: "Just because you don't have a pulse doesn't mean you can't be perky": my so-called death, young adult zombie fiction and murder in the posthuman age.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [227]-250) and index.

ISBN:

1-4214-0841-4

OCLC:

834604112