Copyrighted Material-Taylor & Francis Copyrighted Material-Taylor & Francis The Gothic in Children’s Literature Copyrighted Material-Taylor & Francis Children’s Literature and Culture Jack Zipes, Series Editor Children’s Literature Comes of Age Th e Feminine Subject in Children’s Apartheid and Racism in South Toward a New Aesthetic Literature African Children’s Literature by Maria Nikolajeva by Christine Wilkie-Stibbs by Donnarae MacCann and Amadu Maddy Sparing the Child Ideologies of Identity in Adolescent Grief and the Unspeakable in Fiction Empire’s Children Youth Literature About Nazism by Robyn McCallum Empire and Imperialism in Classic and the Holocaust Recycling Red Riding Hood British Children’s Books by Hamida Bosmajian by Sandra Beckett by M. Daphne Kutzer Rediscoveries in Children’s Th e Poetics of Childhood Constructing the Canon Literature by Roni Natov of Children’s Literature by Suzanne Rahn Beyond Library Walls Voices of the Other Inventing the Child and Ivory Towers Children’s Literature and the Culture, Ideology, and the by Anne Lundin Postcolonial Context Story of Childhood edited by Roderick McGillis Youth of Darkest England by Joseph L. Zornado Working Class Children at the Heart Narrating Africa Regendering the School Story of Victorian Empire George Henty and the Fiction of by Troy Boone Sassy Sissies and Tattling Tomboys Empire by Beverly Lyon Clark by Mawuena Kossi Logan Ursula K. Leguin Beyond Genre Literature for Children and Adults A Necessary Fantasy? Reimagining Shakespeare for by Mike Cadden Th e Heroic Figure in Children’s Children and Young Adults Popular Culture edited by Naomi J. Miller Twice-Told Children’s Tales edited by Dudley Jones and Tony edited by Betty Greenway Watkins Representing the Holocaust in Youth Literature Diana Wynne Jones White Supremacy in Children’s by Lydia Kokkola Th e Fantastic Tradition and Literature Translating for Children Children’s Literature Characterizations of African by Farah Mendlesohn Americans, 1830–1900 by Riitta Oittinen by Donnarae MacCann Beatrix Potter Childhood and Children’s Books in Writing in Code Early Modern Europe, 1550-1800 Ways of Being Male by M. Daphne Kutzer edited by Andrea Immel and Representing Masculinities in Michael Witmore Children’s Literature and Film Children’s Films by John Stephens History, Ideology, Pedagogy, Th eory Voracious Children by Ian Wojcik-Andrews Who Eats Whom in Children’s Retelling Stories, Framing Culture Literature Traditional Story and Metanarra- Utopian and Dystopian by Carolyn Daniel tives in Children’s Literature Writing for Children and Young by John Stephens and Robyn Adults National Character in South McCallum edited by Carrie Hintz and Elaine African Children’s Literature Ostry by Elwyn Jenkins Pinocchio Goes Postmodern Transcending Boundaries Perils of a Puppet in the United Myth, Symbol, and Meaning in Writing for a Dual Audience of Mary Poppins States Children and Adults Th e Governess as Provocateur by Richard Wunderlich and edited by Sandra L. Beckett by Georgia Grilli Th omas J. Morrissey Th e Making of the Modern Child A Critical History of French Little Women and the Feminist Children’s Literature and Childhood Children’s Literature Imagination in the Late Eighteenth Century by Penny Brown Criticism, Controversy, Personal by Andrew O’Malley Essays Th e Gothic in Children’s Literature edited by Janice M. Alberghene and How Picturebooks Work Haunting the Borders Beverly Lyon Clark by Maria Nikolajeva and Carole Edited by Anna Jackson, Scott Karen Coats, and Roderick Th e Presence of the Past McGillis Memory, Heritage, and Childhood Brown Gold in Postwar Britain Milestones of African American by Valerie Krips Children’s Picture Books, 1845-2002 by Michelle H. Martin Th e Case of Peter Rabbit Changing Conditions of Russell Hoban/Forty Years Literature for Children Essays on His Writing for Children by Margaret Mackey by Alida Allison Copyrighted Material-Taylor & Francis The Gothic in Children’s Literature HAUNTING THE BORDERS Edited by Anna Jackson, Karen Coats, and Roderick McGillis New York London Copyrighted Material-Taylor & Francis Routledge Routledge Taylor & Francis Group Taylor & Francis Group 270 Madison Ave, 2 Park Square, New York NY 10016 Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN © 2008 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business Transferred to Digital Printing 2009 International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-415-96036-6 (Hardcover) No part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The gothic in children’s literature : haunting the borders / edited by Anna Jackson, Karen Coats, and Roderick McGillis. p. cm. -- (Children’s literature and culture ; 43) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-415-96036-6 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Children’s stories, English--History and criticism. 2. Children’s stories, Commonwealth (English)--History and criticism. 3. Horror tales, English--History and criticism. 4. Horror in literature. 5. Gothic revival (Literature)--Great Britain. 6. Gothic revival (Literature)--English-speaking countries. I. Jackson, Anna, 1967- II. Coats, Karen, 1963- III. McGillis, Roderick. PR830.C513G67 2007 823’.08729099282--dc22 2006101148 ISBN10: 0-415-96036-3 (hbk) ISBN10: 0-415-87574-9 (pbk) ISBN13: 978-0-415-96036-6 (hbk) ISBN13: 978-0-415-87574-5 (pbk) Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at http://www.taylorandfrancis.com and the Routledge Web site at http://www.routledge.com Copyrighted Material-Taylor & Francis CONTENTS Series Editor’s Foreword vii Introduction 1 1. Th e Haunted Nursery: 1764–1830 15 DALE TOWNSHEND 2. Cyberfi ction and the Gothic Novel 39 NADIA CRANDALL 3. Frightening and Funny: Humour in Children’s Gothic Fiction 57 JULIE CROSS 4. Between Horror, Humour, and Hope: Neil Gaiman and the Psychic Work of the Gothic 77 KAREN COATS 5. On the Gothic Beach: A New Zealand Reading of House and Landscape in Margaret Mahy’s Th e Tricksters 93 ROSE LOVELL-SMITH 6. High Winds and Broken Bridges: Th e Gothic and the West Indies in Twentieth-Century British Children’s Literature 117 KAREN SANDS-O’CONNOR v Copyrighted Material-Taylor & Francis vi • Contents 7. Th e Scary Tale Looks for a Family: Gary Crew’s Gothic Hospital and Sonya Hartnett’s Th e Devil Latch 131 ANNA SMITH 8. Haunting the Borders of Sword and Sorcery: Garth Nix’s Th e Seventh Tower 145 ALICE MILLS 9. Uncanny Hauntings, Canny Children 157 ANNA JACKSON 10. Hermione in the Bathroom: Th e Gothic, Menarche, and Female Development in the Harry Potter Series 177 JUNE CUMMINS 11. Making Nightmares into New Fairytales: Goth Comics as Children’s Literature 195 LAURIE N. TAYLOR 12. Fantastic Books: Th e Gothic Architecture of Children’s Books 209 REBECCA-ANNE C. DO ROZARIO 13. Th e Night Side of Nature: Gothic Spaces, Fearful Times 227 RODERICK MCGILLIS Contributors 243 Index 247 Copyrighted Material-Taylor & Francis SERIES EDITOR’S FOREWORD Dedicated to furthering original research in children’s literature and culture, the Children’s Literature and Culture series includes mono- graphs on individual authors and illustrators, historical examinations of diff erent periods, literary analyses of genres, and comparative studies on literature and the mass media. Th e series is international in scope and is intended to encourage innovative research in children’s litera- ture with a focus on interdisciplinary methodology. Children’s literature and culture are understood in the broadest sense of the term children to encompass the period of childhood up through adolescence. Owing to the fact that the notion of childhood has changed so much since the origination of children’s literature, this Routledge series is particularly concerned with transformations in children’s culture and how they have aff ected the representation and socialization of children. While the emphasis of the series is on children’s literature, all types of studies that deal with children’s radio, fi lm, television, and art are included in an endeavor to grasp the aesthetics and values of children’s culture. Not only have there been momentous changes in chil- dren’s culture in the last fi ft y years, but there have been radical shift s in the scholarship that deals with these changes. In this regard, the goal of the Children’s Literature and Culture series is to enhance research in this fi eld and, at the same time, point to new directions that bring together the best scholarly work throughout the world. Jack Zipes vii Copyrighted Material-Taylor & Francis Page Intentionally Left Blank Copyrighted Material-Taylor & Francis INTRODUCTION Walk into any children’s bookstore and you will note a decidedly Gothic fl avor to many of the titles on display. From creepy picture books to Harry Potter to Lemony Snicket to the Spiderwick Chronicles to count- less vampire series for young adult readers, fear or the pretence of fear has become a dominant mode of enjoyment in literature for young people. Th e essays in this volume represent a critical response to this publish- ing trend in children’s literature. Th ey seek to understand its history, to thematize its expressions, and to theorize its presence and importance in children’s literature. While adult Gothic has received much critical attention, and the popularity of Gothic narratives at the turn of the millennium has been analysed in studies such as Mark Edmundson’s Nightmare on Main Street, surprisingly little critical attention has been paid so far to Gothic children’s literature. Yet in children’s literature today, the Gothic is mainstream.