Children’s Literature and the Posthuman An investigation of identity formation in children’s literature, this book brings together children’s literature and recent critical concerns with posthumanism to argue that children’s fiction offers sophisticated inter- ventions into debates about what it means to be human, and in particular about humanity’s relationship to animals and the natural world. In com- plicating questions of human identity, ecology, gender, and technology, Jaques engages with a multifaceted posthumanism to understand how phi- losophy can emerge from children’s fantasy, disclosing how such fiction can build upon earlier traditions to represent complex issues of humanness to younger audiences. Interrogating the place of the human through the non- human (whether animal or mechanical) leads this book to have interpre- tations that depart from the critical tradition, which, in its concerns with the socialization and representation of the child, has ignored larger epis- temologies of humanness. The book considers canonical children’s litera- ture alongside recent bestsellers and films, locating texts such as Gulliver’s Travels (1726), The Adventures of Pinocchio (1883), and the Alice books (1865, 1871) as important works in the evolution of posthuman ideas. This study provides radical new readings of children’s literature and dem- onstrates that the genre offers sophisticated interventions into the nature, boundaries, and dominion of humanity. Zoe Jaques is Lecturer in Children’s Literature at Cambridge University, UK, and a Fellow of Homerton College. She is co-author of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass: A Pub- lishing History (2013). Children’s Literature and Culture Jack Zipes, Founding Series Editor Philip Nel, Current Series Editor For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com The Children’s Book Business Contemporary English-Language Lessons from the Long Eighteenth Indian Children’s Literature: Century Representations of Nation, Culture, Lissa Paul and the New Indian Girl Michelle Superle Humor in Contemporary Junior Literature Re-visioning Historical Fiction Julie Cross The Past through Modern Eyes Kim Wilson Innocence, Heterosexuality, and the Queerness of Children’s The Myth of Persephone in Girls’ Literature Fantasy Literature Tison Pugh Holly Virginia Blackford Reading the Adolescent Romance Pinocchio, Puppets and Modernity Sweet Valley High and the Popular The Mechanical Body Young Adult Romance Novel Edited by Katia Pizzi Amy S. Pattee Crossover Picturebooks Irish Children’s Literature and A Genre for All Ages Culture Sandra L. Beckett New Perspectives on Contemporary Writing Peter Pan’s Shadows in the Literary Edited by Valerie Coghlan and Imagination Keith O’Sullivan Kirsten Stirling Beyond Pippi Longstocking Landscape in Children’s Literature Intermedial and International Jane Suzanne Carroll Perspectives on Astrid Lindgren’s Works Colonial India in Children’s Edited by Bettina Kümmerling- Literature Meibauer and Astrid Surmatz Supriya Goswami Children’s Culture and the Jews and Jewishness in British Avant-Garde Children’s Literature Painting in Paris, 1890–1915 Madelyn J. Travis Marilynn Olson Genocide in Contemporary Textual Transformations in Children’s and Young Children’s Literature Adult Literature Adaptations, Translations, Cambodia to Darfur Reconsiderations Jane M. Gangi Edited by Benjamin Lefebvre Children and Cultural Memory in The Nation in Children’s Literature Texts of Childhood Nations of Childhood Edited by Heather Snell and Lorna Edited by Kit Kelen and Björn Hutchison Sundmark Picturebooks: Representation and Subjectivity in Asian Children’s Narration Literature and Film Edited by Bettina Kümmerling- Global Theories and Implications Meibauer Edited by John Stephens Children’s Literature and Children’s Literature, New York City Domestication, and Social Edited by Pádraic Whyte and Keith Foundation O’Sullivan Narratives of Civilization and Wilderness Entranced by Story Layla AbdelRahim Brain, Tale and Teller, from Infancy Charles Dickens and the Victorian to Old Age Child Hugh Crago Romanticizing and Socializing the Imperfect Child Discourses of Postcolonialism in Amberyl Malkovich Contemporary British Children’s Literature Second-Generation Memory Blanka Grzegorczyk and Contemporary Children’s Literature Fantasy and the Real World in Ghost Images British Children’s Literature Anastasia Ulanowicz The Power of Story Caroline Webb Contemporary Dystopian Fiction for Young Adults Children’s Literature and Brave New Teenagers the Posthuman Edited by Carrie Hintz, Balaka Animal, Environment, Cyborg Basu, and Katherine R. Broad Zoe Jaques This page intentionally left blank Children’s Literature and the Posthuman Animal, Environment, Cyborg Zoe Jaques First published 2015 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business © 2015 Taylor & Francis The right of Zoe Jaques to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing 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 Jaques, Zoe. Children’s literature and the posthuman : animal, environment, cyborg / by Zoe Jaques. â pages cm. — (Children’s literature and culture ; 102) Includes bibliographical references and index. â 1. Children’s literature—History and criticism. I. Title. PN1009.A1J37 2014 809'.89282—dc23 2014032871 ISBN: 978-0-415-81843-8 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-203-58149-0 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by codeMantra Contents List of Illustrations xiii Acknowledgements xv Introduction: The Child, the Book and the Posthuman Ethic Part I Animal 23 1 Creature 25 2 Pet 71 Part II Environment 109 3 Tree 111 4 Water 143 Part III Cyborg 175 5 Robot 177 6 Toy 209 Conclusion: A Question: Who Are You? 237 Bibliography 241 Index 265 This page intentionally left blank List of Illustrations Cover image: John Tenniel’s illustration of Alice and the Caterpillar from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. (London: Macmillan, 1865; 1872). Author’s own. 1.1 John Hassall’s illustration of Gulliver under fire, from Gulliver’s Travels: Retold for Little Folk by Agnes Grozier Herbertson. (London: Blackie & Son Limited, c.1910). Cambridge University Library. 31 1.2 Willy Pogany’s illustration of Gulliver embraced by a monkey from Padraic Colum’s 1917 edition of Gulliver’s Travels. (London: George G. Harrap & Company, 1919). Author’s own. 36 1.3 John Tenniel’s illustration of Alice with the Dodo from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. (London: Macmillan, 1865; 1872). Author’s own. 45 1.4 Charles Robinson’s illustration of Alice’s snake-like neck from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. (New York: Cassell, 1907). Cambridge University Library. 46 1.5 John Tenniel’s illustration of the Mock Turtle from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. (London: Macmillan, 1865; 1872). Author’s own. 49 1.6 John Tenniel’s illustration of Alice and the Flamingo from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. (London: Macmillan, 1865; 1872). Author’s own. 51 1.7 John Tenniel’s illustration of the Cheshire-Cat’s head from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. (London: Macmillan, 1865; 1872). Author’s own. 52 1.8 E. Gertrude Thompson’s cover illustration for The Nursery “Alice.” (London: Macmillan, 1890). Cambridge University Library. 54 1.9 John Tenniel’s illustration of Alice and the Fawn from Through the Looking-Glass. (London: Macmillan, 1872). Author’s own. 56 x List of Illustrations 1.10 John Tenniel’s illustration of the Jabberwock from Through the Looking-Glass. (London: Macmillan, 1872). Author’s own. 59 1.11 John Tenniel’s illustration of the Leg of Mutton taking a bow from Through the Looking-Glass. (London: Macmillan, 1872) Author’s own. 62 2.1 George du Maurier’s “‘The Tables Turned at the ‘Zoo.’” Punch’s Almanack for 1867 (52). London: Bradbury, Evans, and Co., 1867. Author’s own. 87 4.1 Detail from one of two illustrations by J. Noel Paton for the first edition of The Water-Babies. (London: Macmillan, 1863). Author’s own. 150 4.2 Edward Linley Sambourne’s illustration of Tom and the dragon-fly for the 1885 edition ofThe Water-Babies. (London: Macmillan, 1919). Author’s own. 151 4.3 Edward Linley Sambourne’s illustration of Thomas Huxley and Richard Owen staring at a water-baby for the 1885 edition of The Water-Babies. (London: Macmillan, 1919). Author’s own. 159 Acknowledgements I am greatly indebted to many people for their help and guidance during the writing of this book. Firstly to the team at the Cambridge/Homerton Research and Teaching Centre for Children’s Literature and to the Peda- gogy, Language, Arts & Culture in Education academic group, Cambridge University—the conversations that have ensued after giving a draft chapter as a paper or through discussions with our students have pushed my think- ing in many new directions. Maria Nikolajeva and Morag Styles have been hugely supportive while I completed this research, and David Whitley has given me invaluable feedback on draft chapters. Special thanks must go to Susan Tan, for all of our many chats about the topic and for reading and commenting on the manuscript. I am also highly indebted to Jack Zipes and Peter Hunt for their continued support and direction. It has been a real pleasure to be part of this fantastic series on Children’s Literature and Culture; my thanks to Phil Nel for his advice throughout and to the team at Routledge, with whom it has been such a delight to work.