Ethics in British Children's Literature Unexamined Life [Hardcover]

Featuring close readings of selected poetry, visual texts, short stories and novels published for children since 1945, fromNaughty Amelia JanetoWatership Down, this is the first extensive study of the nature and form of ethical discourse in British children's literature.

Ethics in British Children's Literatureexplores the extent to which contemporary writing for children might be considered philosophical, tackling ethical spheres relevant to and arising from books for young people, such as naughtiness, good and evil, family life and environmental ethics. Rigorously engaging with influential moral philosophers, from Aristotle, through Kant and Hegel, to Arno Leopold, Iris Murdoch, Mary Midgley and Lars Svendsen, this book demonstrates the narrative strategies employed to engage young readers as moral agents.

Sainsbury's book takes seriously the opportunity to show how childrens books and philosophy each can illuminate and enrich the study of the other. Sainsbury's extensive knowledge of children's boks makes all the difference in her ability to create an appreciation for the relevance and usefulness of continental philosophy to the reading of British children's books. Sainbury's examination makes it clear how a tradition of children's books in England has benefitted from and extend philosophical discussions of moral behavior and perceptions of the child. This book is truly of value to student s of both British children's literature and continental philosophy. Mike Cadden, Children's Literature Association Quarterly

List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Unexamined Life inThe Inferno
1.The Sin of Indifference (Part I): Beyond Naughty
2. The Sin of Indifference (Part II): Discovering Evil
3. Moral Ammunition: Growing Out of Dissatisfaction through Ethical Life
4. Midnight Philosophy and Environmental Ethics
5. The Making of Monsters: Duty, Gender and the Rightness of Wrong
6. Thel3M