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History, Landscape and National Identity : a Comparative Study of Contemporary English and Icelandic Literature for Children Pálsdóttir, A.H

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History, Landscape and National Identity : a Comparative Study of Contemporary English and Icelandic Literature for Children Pálsdóttir, A.H History, landscape and national identity : a comparative study of contemporary English and Icelandic literature for children Pálsdóttir, A.H. Submitted version deposited in CURVE June 2012 Original citation: Pálsdóttir, A.H. (2002) History, landscape and national identity : a comparative study of contemporary English and Icelandic literature for children. Unpublished PhD Thesis. Coventry: University College Worcester In collaboration with Coventry University. Copyright © and Moral Rights are retained by the author. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Some materials have been removed from this thesis due to third party copyright. Pages where material has been removed are clearly marked in the electronic version. The unabridged version of the thesis can be viewed at the Lanchester Library, Coventry University. CURVE is the Institutional Repository for Coventry University http://curve.coventry.ac.uk/open HISTORY, LANDSCAPE AND NATIONAL IDENTITY: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH AND ICELANDIC LITERATURE FOR CHILDREN ANNA HEIDA PALSDOTTIR A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Coventry for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy APRIL 2002 University College Worcester in association with Coventry University ABSTRACT This literary study is a comparative analysis of 86 contemporary English and Icelandic children’s books, mainly published in 1970-1999. The main argument is that the children’s literature of a particular nation provides a key to understanding the nation’s frame of mind, what stirs its emotions and provokes its thoughts; that children’s literature reveals the nature of the nation’s relationship with its surroundings, its interaction with the national landscape and its concept of space. Moreover, children’s books can demonstrate how the national imagination is linked with the local landscape and its peculiarities through memories, myths and meanings. A theoretical model was constructed to demonstrate the interplay between landscape and history, and to make explicit the hidden constructs of national identity. Working with that model, employing a cultural materialist viewpoint – which embraces perspectives from different fields – made it possible to elucidate notions of national identity embedded in the texts. The comparative study made explicit differences between the English and the Icelandic approach to class, family, community, institutions of state, popular culture and politics. The dissimilarities are rooted in the histories and landscapes of the two nations, which are vastly contrasting. The outcome of the study implies that the Icelandic nation seems secure in its identity: the experiences of history have produced a national attitude of unity. In contrast, the evidence shows that English national identity is marked by division, in terms of class and region, landscape and language. The study shows that there is a richness in difference. Although overarching global movements would lead us to believe that assimilation into a common culture is either inevitable or desirable, there are nonetheless radical differences, which are drawn from from the relationships determined by history and landscape. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For all their support, friendly advice and constant encouragement, my heartfelt gratitude goes to my supervisors, Dr. Jean A. Webb and Dr. Sigrun Klara Hannesdottir, and to Tony Watkins and Silja Adalsteinsdottir, who were my external experts. My gratitude also goes to the Graduate School at University College Worcester, the staff and the team of PhD- students, who have made this expatriate feel at home in England. Special thanks to fellow students Jorunn Elidottir and Janet Fuerst for their generosity and constant support. No words can express the gratitude I feel towards my husband, Hilmar Hilmarsson, for never resenting taking second place to this thesis for three years and for bringing up our children single-handedly for most of that time. I thank him, my children, Sisi and Hilmar jr., and my whole family for their endless belief in me. I also want to thank RANNIS (The Icelandic Graduate Students Research Fund) and the British ORS (Overseas Research Students Fund) for financially supporting this research. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Chapter 1: Introduction……………………………………………………………. 2 1.1. Why Children’s Literature?……………….……………………..……… 3 1.2. England Versus Iceland……………………………………….……..…. 5 1.3. Language: Adaptations and Limitations ………………………….……. 9 1.4. Theoretical Considerations - Structural Framework …………………… 9 Chapter 2: Previous Work and Theoretical Background…………………..……. 16 2.1. What is Children’s Literature?……………….…………………………. 16 2.2. Children’s Literature Research in England ……………………..…..….. 18 2.3. Children’s Literature Research in Iceland ………………………………. 21 2.4. The Value of Comparison…………………….………………………….. 23 2.5. Universals and Dissimilarities…………………………………………… 26 2.6. Children’s Literature, New Historicism and Cultural Materialism.…….. 29 2.7. Children’s Literature and Landscape…………………………………… 35 2.8. Methodology…………………………………………………..…….…. 37 Chapter 3: The Choice of Texts in Their Historical Contexts …………………… 42 3.1. Choice of Time Period and Categories…………………………………. 42 3.2. Grounds for the Selection: Literary Prizes……………………………… 45 3.3. The Quantity of Children’s Books covered………………….…….…….. 47 3.4. Children’s Books in their Historical Context……………..……….…… 50 3.5. The Selection of English Children’s Books…………………………….. 53 3.6. The Selection of Icelandic Children’s Books…………………………… 68 Chapter 4: National Values, National Myths and National Identity…………….. 86 4.1. Personal Values……………………………..………….……………….. 86 4.2. Family Values …………………………………………………………… 89 4.3. National Values and National Myths…………………..……..……..….. 95 4.4. Norms, Normality and Reality……….………………………………… 102 4.5. Institutions and English Children’s Books……………………………… 107 4.6. Institutions and Icelandic Children’s Books………………………….… 111 4.7. Language………………………………………………………………… 117 4.8. Customs and Rituals…………………………………………………… 129 Chapter 5: National Identity and National Character…………. ……………….. 136 5.1. Nation, Culture and National Identity………………………………..…. 137 5.2. The “National Character”…………………………………………….…. 141 5.3. “Englishness” and the English National Character……………………... 145 5.4. War and Foreign Threats in English Children’s Books…………………. 151 5.5. Icelandic History, National Identity and National Character………….... 162 5.6. Fatalism, Dreams and Seamanship …...….…………………………….. 164 Chapter 6: Home……………………………………………………………..……. 169 6.1. Home, Family and Locality……………………………………………... 171 6.2. Home Affinity..…………………………………………………………. 180 6.3. “Seeing” and “Reading” Landscapes………………………………….… 187 6.4. Class and English Landscape……………………………...…………… 193 6.5. The Living Landscapes of Iceland……………………………………… 206 Chapter 7: Homeland and Heimat..……………………….……………………… 222 7.1. Roots in the Native Landscape………..…………………..………..…... 223 7.2. England: The Pastoral Vision................................................................. 224 7.3. Order and Chaos………….……………………….…………….……… 233 7.4. Rolling Hills and Rocky Crags…………………………….………....… 242 7.5. Heimat……………………….…………………………….……….....… 251 Chapter 8: Heritage and History ……………………………………………..….. 260 8.1. The Heritage Crusade……………..……………………………………. 261 8.2. Imperialism Revisited……………………………………………..……. 270 8.3. The “North” in English Children’s books ……………………..……….. 274 8.4. The Living Language ………………………………………………….. 282 8.5. The Saga Continues………………………….…………………………. 290 Chapter 9: Conclusion………………………………............................................ 296 Primary Sources: English Children’s Books 305 Cited……………………… Primary Sources: Icelandic Children’s Books 309 Cited……………….……. Works Cited………………………………………………………….…. 313 Appendices: Appendix I: Family Pattern of Main 333 Characters………………………… Appendix II: Table, English and Icelandic Children’s Books in Chronological Order…………………………………………………….. 335 The fact is that a sense of place plays a profound part in the emotional structure of most people, not only of writers, and the various ways in which that sense can be recognized, developed, related to other kinds of awareness and in general cultivated can help to make our lives more interesting. (Daiches and Flower 1979, 7) 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Despite their immense capacity for humane sympathies, our greatest authors are not independent of their own cultural framework. (Lott 1993, 40) This study is an analysis of a selection of children’s books from two countries, England and Iceland, conducted in order to determine the importance of children’s literature in the composition and preservation of national identity. It evaluates the correlation between children’s literature, a particular place, and the culture which produced it. I use literature written for children to examine the bond, or the assumed bond, between the child as a literary construct, the culture that nurtured it, the surrounding landscape, and the nation to which the child belongs. The key words in this evaluation are landscape, history, heritage and tradition – which contribute to the process of forming national identity. The central premise is that a nation’s landscapes and its history have
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