Post-war and Middle Ages. Children’s and Young Adult Literature (1945–1970)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Thomas Boyken
• Subject Area: German Literary and Cultural Studies (Modern German Literature)
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 498264681

Research on post-WWII literature has increased enormously over the past ten years. There is one subject, however, which has not received much academic attention: post-war children’s and young adult literature. With the focus lying on ‘high literature’ (‘high culture’), the range and differentiation of this literary field have, unfortunately, often been disregarded. The diversity of post-1945 literature is only recently being discovered. This project therefore makes an important contribution to the latest development. It focuses on a literary field which often goes unnoticed in academia, since it is regularly considered part of ‘low-brow literature’ (trivial, popular literature; formula fiction) and heteronomy. By analyzing the representation of the Middle Ages in children’s and young-adult literature between 1945 and 1970, the project will examine the interrelation between the fabricated literary quality and the contextual/social utilization. Various exchange processes between adult literature and children’s and young adult literature can be demonstrated by addressing the representation of the Middle Ages. Therefore, the different view on children’s and young adult literature of the post-war period will be complemented by a change of perspective on a systematic level. The respective texts are considered ‘hybrids’ of artificial-aesthetic and social practices. The project therefore focuses on the praxeological determination of children’s and young adult literature as an aesthetic-social practice.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants