SENSITIVE TOPICS IN CHILDREN’S GRAPHIC LITERATURE: HOW NORWEGIAN AUTHOR GRO DAHLE DEPICTS PARENTAL CONFLICT, DEPRESSION, AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN THE CONTEMPORARY FAMILY
SENSITIVE TOPICS IN CHILDREN’S GRAPHIC LITERATURE: HOW NORWEGIAN AUTHOR GRO DAHLE DEPICTS PARENTAL CONFLICT, DEPRESSION, AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN THE CONTEMPORARY FAMILY

Summary/Abstract: Sensitive topics such as depression, anxiety and violence are boldly addressed in contemporary children’s picture books. Based on Sophie van der Linden’s picture book theory, this article explores how depression, divorce and violence are depicted in Gro Dahle, Svein Nyhus and Kaia Dahle Nyhus’ picture books and which rhetorical, literal or graphic strategies are used to explain to a young, uninitiated audience a subject as complex as mental health and parental unavailability in contemporary families. The article proposes a theoretical introduction to graphic literature for children, emphasizing the styles, forms and diversity of this literature as exemplified in an analysis of the portrayal of the modern child within Dahle’s literary universe, with particular attention to how this child perceives and internalizes familial trauma. It also addresses the new direction of taking out of taboo these “sensitive” subjects, which are even more relevant and present in contemporary society and emphasizes their legitimacy in literary studies and beyond.

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