The necessity of a trace. Canons of children and teenagers’ literature Cover Image

Konieczność śladu. Kanony literatury dla dzieci i młodzieży
The necessity of a trace. Canons of children and teenagers’ literature

Author(s): Małgorzata Wójcik-Dudek
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, History of the Holocaust
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: Holocaust; Children and Youths’ Literature; canon of required readings; loss

Summary/Abstract: The article is an attempt to characterize the school canon of required readings concerning the Holocaust, as well as other books dedicated to the youngest readers. The author analyses the records of core curriculum and inspects books for children which were written in the first decade of the 21st century. In these recommended readings she notices a mechanism of creating the post-memory of young readers’ generation, which shape corresponds to the contemporary reflection on the Holocaust, undergoing constant changes which are a result of appearances of still new contexts. The researcher considers a trace to be a superior category which enables forming of contemporary remembering matrices. For the same reason the author pays special attention to this motive while analysing the chosen texts. It results in the conclusion that the presence of a trace generates nostalgia, which in turn leads to the feeling of loss, a category without which it would be difficult to imagine contemporary texts on the Holocaust for children.

  • Issue Year: 2015
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 96-116
  • Page Count: 21
  • Language: Polish