Description
Book SynopsisAlison Waller is Senior Lecturer at the University of Roehampton, UK. She is the author of
Constructions of Adolescence in Fantastic Realism (2009).
Trade ReviewRereading Childhood Books offers a rich and sophisticated account of the many ways in which our reading lives are woven into our regular daily existence, not just at any particular moment but over a reading lifetime…[Waller’s] evocation of the reading scene, the life space, and the affective traces that allow a childhood book to resonate throughout a lifetime is potent and persuasive. Her argument that children's literature (using the term broadly to include that paracanon as well as the masterpieces) may resonate throughout a lifespan, through both memory and re-engagement in multiple readings, is highly significant and demonstrates the intellectual value of talking with readers as well as engaging with the texts…This is a volume that I am very glad to add to my shelf. * Professor Margaret Mackey, University of Alberta, Canada in Children’s Literature Association Quarterly *
Waller’s is an open-ended exploration, a qualitative dipping of toes into a vast, virtually unmapped, and elusive territory. Benjamin’s depiction of memory work as a ‘cautious probing of spade in dark loam’ […] is an apt description of Waller’s own highly commendable undertaking. She tackles the subject through well-informed discussion of underlying concepts illuminated by teasing glimpses of personal memory. * Gillian Lathey, International Research in Children's Literature 2020 13:2, 350-353 *
In this fascinating study, Waller examines memory, emotional attachment (both positive and negative) to books, and lifelong learning through the lens of rereading favorite childhood books in adulthood … A must-read for any bibliophile or educator, this is a delightful examination of the ramifications of rereading. Summing Up: Essential. * CHOICE *
[Waller] tackles the subject through well-informed discussion of underlying concepts illuminated by teasing glimpses of personal memory. * International Research in Children's Literature *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction: Excavating Paracanons and the lifelong reading act Nostalgia, memoirs and re-memorying Experiments in rereading
Rereading Childhood Books: A Poetics 1. The reading scene Memory and the
reading scene Childhood reading and reminiscence Childhood books and recollection Rereading and recognition Reconstructing through rereading Conclusion 2. The life space The
life space and autotopography Co-reading Learning to read School and home Reading spaces Mapping reading Conclusion 3. Affective traces
Affective traces and resonance Pleasures Passions Grief Fear Desire and boredom Conclusion 4. Rereading attitudes The uses of childhood books and
rereading attitudes Nostalgia Rereading with children As scholars Understanding literary life Conclusion 5. Transforming, misremembering, forgetting Transformed texts Material mismatches Translations and transmediations Forgetting and
anamnesis Conclusion Conclusion: The lifelong reading act Future directions Final words Appendix: Paricipants Notes Bibliography Index
