English 2F - Children's Literature
Module 7: Fantasy and Psychoanalytic Theory
"We call our individual fantasies dreams, but when we dream as a society, or as a human race, it becomes the sum total of all our hopes. Fantasy touches our deepest feelings and in so doing, it speaks to the best and most hopeful parts of ourselves. It can help us learn the most fundamental skill of all -- how to be human." Lloyd Alexander |
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| In the last resource , we looked at various ways that fairy tales can affect children psychologically, socially and emotionally. Fantasy, being the narrative heir to fairy tales, can have the same effects. Many people argue that fantasy has become obsolete - that children need tales of "real life", characters and situations that they can relate to. However, I will argue that fantasy is, in many ways, "realer" than anything else a child can read, and we need it now more than ever. Good fantasy transcends time and place, in that it allows the reader to ask the universal questions that all human beings are concerned with, no matter when or where they live. | |
Resources on Fantasy The Real Reason Children Love Fantasy, by Alison Gopnik Children's Fantasy Lit in the Modern World - Talk of the Nation, NPR (audio) Note: the above is an audio clip from "Talk of the Nation". You will need to have audio capability to access this resource. |
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The Green Man |
"The voice of all mankind resounds in us" Jung and Archetypal Theory Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung theorized that when we read fairy tales and fantasy, we participate in a transcendent human experience. He coined a term for this experience, the "collective unconscious". According to Jung, the collective unconscious is made up of characters, situations, and images that have universal meanings that remain more or less static throughout time and over distances, both geographic and cultural. He called these images, characters and plot elements "archetypes". We encounter these archetypes in our dreams, in literature, folklore, religion and art, and Jung (among others) posited that they have special resonance for all human beings, throughout every time and culture. |
More resources on Archetypes and Archetypal Theory |
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Fantasy Bibliographies |