University of AIberta Between Literary Systems: Authors of Literature for Adults Write for Children Larissa Jean Klein Tumanov 0 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Comparative Literature Department of Comparative Literature, Religion, and FilrnIMedia Studies Edmonton, Alberta Fall 1999 National Library Biblioth&que nationale 1*1 of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographic Services services bibliographiques 395 Weliington Street 345. nre Welligtm OttawaON KIA ON4 OnawaON KIA ON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accorde me licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive pennettant a la National Library of Canada to Bibliotheque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distn'bute or sell reproduire, prster, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette these sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format electrouique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriete du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protege cette these. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celie-ci ne doivent &re imprimes reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. LRs dew anges, qui veillaient sur lui depuis sa liMration, le cueillirent dam leurs grandes ailes, et, le ciel nocturne st6tant ouvelt sur d'irnmeases clart6s, ils emport&ent celui qui, aprh avoir Ct6 le demier, le perpt5tuel re tardataire, venait de recevoir l'eucharistie le premier. Michel Toumier Gaspard, Melchior & Balthar and Les Rois mages Dedication I would like to dedicate this dissertation to the members of my family. who have waited so patiently and lovingly for its completion: my parents, Betty and Howard; my sisters, Marcia and Jeannine; my parents- in-law. Alla aud Sash, my husband, Vladimir, and children, Alex (who used to call this a "feesis") and Vanessa (who still asks: "How's your peesis?"). I must also not forget about Kuzia the Schnauzer, who spent so many hours dozing at my feet as I worked and got directly involved in my research by eating the bindings of two tasty library books. This dedication is furthermore to Shannon and Glenn whose words of encouragement made a tremendous difference. And most regrettably I add: To the memory of Liliana Rossi, fellow student of Comparative Literature. Abstract While various semiotic phenomena have been studied according to Itarnar Even-Zohar's pol ysy stemic approach as "intersecting systems of systems," another possibility is to consider how individual authors function as members of different literary systems and to explore the relationship between these realms of activity. This dissertation concerns the largest category of such authors: individuals who have written for both children and adults, and whom I call adultlchildren's system authors. Focusing on Komei Chukovskii, Mikhail Zoshchenko, Daniil Kharms, Eugene Ionesco, and Michel Toumier, I seek to demonstrate one way in which adult/childrenls system authors write for children: they produce ambivalent texts addressed to a dual child/adult audience. The above individuals can thus be seen to follow the example of many other nineteenth- and twentiethtentury writers of literature for adults whose turn to the field of children's literature has likewise resulted in the creation of ambivalent works (e.g., George MacDonald, Antoine de Saint- Exuwry, A.A. Milne). My detailed readings, inspired by reader-oriented theories, show how children and adults might make sense of my authors' texts (as well as the paratext where applicable). I conlude that the sort of literature I examine is indeed ambivalent and as such can be seen to occupy a space "between literary systems. " Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to thank the International Research Society for Children's Literature for all that it does to support the study of children's literature. I am very honoured to have been awarded an IRSCL Research Grant for work on this project and have especially enjoyed the wondrous South African illustration that accompanied the financial component. Credit is also due to a number of individual IRSCL members who have helped me in various ways: Maria Nikolajeva, Emer O'S ullivan, Zohar Shavit, John Stephens, Jean Perrot, Sofia Nikolaieva, Iulia Prosalkova, and Karin Beate Vold. In particular, I would like to express my gratitude to Sandra Beckett: first, for the work that she has done on the subject of major writers who have written for children: and second, for kindly agreeing to be my external examiner. Many thanks to Anthony Purdy for his extremely helpful suggestions and for the use of his Toumier materials. I am grateful as well to George Washington. Stephen Hawking. Astrid Lindgren, Sisyphus. and so many others for showing what it means to persist. Et merci h Eughe Ionesco for answering my letters and almost meeting with me in Paris before facing the ultimate "but de l'existence." Furthermore, I would like to acknowledge: Etie~eDelessert; Peter Rabinowitz; Laurence Fritz and Jean-Louis Harter of the Institut International Charles Perrault; Iris and Don Bruce; the countless Slavists, children's literature specialists, and librarians who responded to my electronic inquiries; the librarians at the London Public Library, the D.B. Weldon Library (University of Western Ontario), and the Robarts Library; the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Alberta Heritage Scholarship Fund, the University of Alberta, and the University of Western Ontario for the scholarships that I received during my PhD program; our Russian friends and relatives who have seat us books and articles over the years; James Mauch and Jack Birch for their Guide to the Successful Thesis and Dissertation; Gordon Davis and Clyde Parker for Writing the Doctoral Dissertation; 3M for innumerable " Post-it notes " ; and, the staff of the Whitehills Childcare Association in London who have taken such superb care of Alex and Vanessa. Additionally, I would like to offer my sincere thanks to all of my professors at the University of Alberta, the members of my committee, and especially Marisa Bortolussi and Uri Margolin. Finally: thank you, dear Vladimir, for your endless thoughts and for everything else that you have done to make the conclusion of this prolonged project possible. And thanks, Dr. Mom and Dr. Dad, for everything! Table of Contents Intrduction The Polysystem, Writing for Children, and Writing for Adults 0.1. The Polysystem Perspective and Plural System Authors 1 0.2. Adul t/Children's Sys tern Authors 7 0.3.WhenDoAdult/Children'sSystemAuthorsWriteforChildren? 9 0.4. Why Do AduitiChildrenk System Authors Write for Children? 10 0.5. Review of the Literature Concerning AdulKhildren's System Authors 17 Chapter One Ambivalence and the Plural Reader 1.1. What Adult/Children's System Authors Say About Plural Readership 33 1.2. The Notion of Ambivalence 36 1.3. The Plural Intended Reader 39 1.3.1. The Author as Reader of His/Her Own Ambivalent Texts 41 1.3.2. The External Adult Reader 42 1.3.3. The Child Reader 45 1.3.4. The Illustrator as Addressee and Addresser 50 1 -4. Research Methodology 51 Chapter Two Aesopian Children's Literature in the Former USSR: Kornei Chukovskii, Mikhail Zoshchenko, and Daniil Kharms 2.1. Extraliterary Circumstances 2.2. Aesopian Language: Screens, Markers, and Ambivalence 2.3. Kornei Chukovskii 2.4. Mikhail Zoshchenko 2.5. Daniil Kharms 2.6. The Dangers of Aesopian Children's Literature Chapter Three Jacquelines and Bobby Watsons: Eugene Xonesco's Contes 3.1. "Contes"and Contes 3.2. Stories for a Child and for Children 3.3. (Children's) Literature for Adults 3.3.1. The Child as Father 3.3.2. The Absurdity of Language 3.3.3. Anti-Absurdist and Conformist Adults 3.3.4. Estranged Spouses 3.3.5. Other Intertextual Connections 3 -4. Ambivalent Illustrations 3.5. The "%me Conte" Chapter Four Michel Tournier's Happy Plume and Triumphant Pierrot 4.1. Tournier's Ideal Audience 4.2. Cultural Mythology and Reading Tournier's Pierror 4.3. "Pierrot"for Adults Conclusion Intersections and Future Paths Bibliography Primary Sources Secondary Sources List of Iiiustrations Illustration from Sbzki by Komei Chukovskii, illustrated by Iu. Vasnetsov et al. No Copyright. illustrations from Chto Ero Bylo? by Daniil Kharms, illustrated by F. Lemkul. No Copyright. Illustration from Conte numt5-o 2 by Eugene Ionesco, illustrated by Etienne Delessert. Copyright Q 1970 by Etienne Delessert. Reprinted by permission of hienne Delessert. Illustration from Conte numkro I by Eugene Ionesco, illustrated by Etienne Delessert. Copyright 6 1%8 by Etieme Delessert. Reprinted by permission of Gtienne Delessert. Ill ushation from Pierrot ou les Secrets de la nuit by Michel Tournier, illustrated by Danitle Bour. Copyright 6 1979 by mitions Gallimard. Reprinted by permission of Gallimard. illustration from Sept contes by Michel Toumier, illustrated by Pierre Hdzard. Copyright 8 1984 by Editions Gallirnard. Reprinted by permission of Gallimard. Introduction Introduction The Polysystem, Writing for Children, and Writing for Addts 0.1. The Polysystem Perspective and Plural System Authors Itamar Even-Zohar sets out the rationale behind his polysystem theory by saying that "semiotic phenomena, i.e., sign-governed human patterns of cornrnunication (such as culture, language, literature, society), could more adequately be understood and studied if regarded as systems rather than conglomerates of disparate elements" (1990, 9). Even-Zohar, who locates the roots of his own approach in the works of the Russian Formalists and Czech Structuralists, calls for a study of socio-cultural institutions which would seek to reveal the multiplicity of synchronic and diachronic intersections and transfers between the various dynamic and heterogeneous systems or "polysystems," i.e., systems of systems.