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The History of Hansel and Gretel
Hansel and Gretel is one of the best-known fairytales. Almost everybody knows the basic story but, more than that, this tale is the ur-story for many seemingly unrelated modern ones. For example, whenever a character meets a character in a ‘forest’ (whether the forest is symbolic or not), the audience is put in mind of wicked cannibalistic witches.
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Blackdog by Levi Pinfold Analysis
Anyone who has ever seen a huge unfriendly dog standing right outside their glass door will know how frightening it can be. Pinfold takes that fear and now we have Blackdog.
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What Is A Flâneur? What Is A Dandy?
As described by James Wood in How Fiction Works, the flâneur is the loafer, usually a young man, who walks the streets with no great urgency, seeing, looking, reflecting. Flânerie describes aimless behaviour. In French it’s spelt like this: flâneur. Wood also uses the great phrases ‘porous scout‘ and ‘Noah’s dove‘ to describe this authorial stand-in. […]
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Gorilla by Anthony Browne Picture Book Analysis
Gorilla is the book that made Anthony Browne’s name as a creator of postmodern picture books. It was awarded the Kurt Maschler Award (1982-1999), which specifically rewarded British picture books demonstrating excellent integration between words and pictures. WHAT HAPPENS IN GORILLA? A girl called Hannah — about 6 or 7 years old — feels that […]
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Postmodernism In Literature
Before taking a look at postmodern picture books, let’s take a look at how the postmodern short story has been described. THE POSTMODERN SHORT STORY The postmodern short story came in the middle of the 20th century. Stories became ‘anti-stories’. Postmodernism is “art’s way of replenishing itself by way of returning to the past in general, […]