Owen Hodkinson - Classical Reception and Childrens Literature: Greece, Rome and Childhood Transformation

Owen Hodkinson is Lecturer in Greek and Roman Cultures at the University of Leeds. He is the author of Authority and Tradition in Philostratus' Heroikos (2011) and co-editor of Epistolary Narratives in Ancient Greek Literature (2013) and of Hymnic Narrative and the Narratology of Greek Hymns (2015).

Helen Lovatt is Professor of Classics at the University of Nottingham. Her books include Statius and Epic Games: Sport, Politics and Poetics in the Thebaid (2005), The Epic Gaze: Vision, Gender and Narrative in Ancient Epic (2013) and In Search of the Argonauts: The Remarkable History of Jason and the Golden Fleece (I.B.Tauris, forthcoming).

This is an important book, which opens up a rich new field for classical reception studies. But more than that, it is a truly delightful book a wonderland of insights and surprises, as enchanting as it is learned.

Edmund Richardson, Associate Professor of Classics, Durham
University, author of Classical Victorians: Scholars, Scoundrels
and Generals in Pursuit of Antiquity

The contributors offer here a feast of information and striking perspectives on previously neglected topics. As well as marking out new ground in the field of children's literature, this volume will generate greater understanding of the variety of ways in which classical themes and figures filter into the wider public imagination and often transform it. A great book!

Lorna Hardwick, Professor Emeritus of Classical Studies,
Open University, co-editor of Classics in the Modern
World, of A Companion to Classical Receptions and
of Classics in Post-Colonial Worlds, and co-series
editor of the Classical Presences book series

This is an imaginative and scholarly collection, with a hugely impressive list of contributors. I learned something new on almost every page.

Catherine Butler, Senior Lecturer in English Literature,
Cardiff University, co-author of Reading History
in Children's Books and co-editor of Modern
Children's Literature: An Introduction

Classical myth and history together with the study of classical languages and cultures are integral to the children's literature of Britain and North America. Small wonder so many of us encountering children's stories in our youth take that knowledge with us into our adult lives. This book is a pioneering work that interweaves in-depth knowledge of the classical tradition with sensitivity to the power of story for children and beyond. The inclusion of children's voices in the book is particularly welcome.

Elizabeth Hale, Senior Lecturer in English (Children's
Literature), University of New England, Armidale, Australia

Published in 2018 by
I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd
London New York
www.ibtauris.com

Copyright editorial selection 2018 Owen Hodkinson and Helen Lovatt

Copyright individual chapters 2018 Gillian Bazovsky, Michael Cadnum, Edith Hall, Aileen Hawkins, Owen Hodkinson, Caroline Lovatt, Helen Lovatt, Jonathan Lovatt, Marian W. Makins, Lisa Maurice, Geoffrey Miles, Sheila Murnaghan, Alison Poe, Deborah H. Roberts, Niall W. Slater, Andelys Wood

The right of Owen Hodkinson and Helen Lovatt to be identified as the editors of this work has been asserted by the editors in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Every attempt has been made to gain permission for the use of the images in this book. Any omissions will be rectified in future editions.

References to websites were correct at the time of writing.

Library of Classical Studies 18

ISBN: 978 1 78831 020 8

eISBN: 978 1 78672 329 1

ePDF: 978 1 78673 329 0

A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available

Owen Hodkinson
To my mother, for teaching me to read.
And to Daisy and Ewan, my favourite niece and nephew.

Helen Lovatt
To those who read to me and those who I read to:
Rob and Tee, Jonny and Caroline.

Contents

Introduction
Owen Hodkinson and Helen Lovatt

1. Beyond the World: Gossip, Murder, and the Legend of Orpheus
Michael Cadnum

2. Interview with Michael Cadnum
Owen Hodkinson

3. Michael Cadnum's Metamorphoses of Ovid
Owen Hodkinson

4. Aesop the Morphing Fabulist
Edith Hall

5. Perspective Matters: Roman Britain in Children's Novels
Andelys Wood

6. The Paradox of Pan as a Figure of Regeneration in Children's Literature
Gillian Bazovsky

7. Arachne's Web: the Reception of an Ovidian Myth in Works for Children
Sheila Murnaghan and Deborah H. Roberts

8. Narcissus in Children's Contexts: Didacticism and Scopophilia?
Aileen Hawkins and Alison Poe

9. I'd break the slate and scream for joy if I did Latin like a boy!: Studying and Teaching Classics in Girls' and Boys' Fiction
Lisa Maurice

10. Latin, Greek, and Other Classical Nonsense in the Work of Edward Lear
Marian W. Makins

11. Changing Alexandria: Didactic Plots and Roman Detectives in Caroline Lawrence and Lindsey Davis
Helen Lovatt

12. Ovid Misunderstood: The Metamorphoses in Narnia
Geoffrey Miles

Afterword: Inheriting the Past: Children's Voices and Parenting Experiences
Caroline Lovatt, Helen Lovatt and Jonathan Lovatt

List of Figures

D'Aulaires (1958) D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths. New York: Doubleday, p. 37. Image credit: Illustrations from D'AULAIRES' BOOK OF GREEK MYTHS by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire, copyright 1962 by Ingrid and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire. Copyright renewed 1990 by Per Ola D'Aulaire & Nils M. P. D'Aulaire. Used by permission of Doubleday, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

Coats (2002) Atticus the Storyteller's 100 Greek Myths. Illustrated by Anthony Lewis. London: Orion Publishing Group, p. 62. Image credit: Lucy Coats (author), Anthony Lewis (illustrator), and Orion Children's Books, part of Hachette Children's Group, London.

McCaughrean (1993) Greek Myths. Illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark. New York: Simon & Schuster, p. 33. Image credit: Illustration Emma Chichester Clark from Greek Myths by Geraldine McCaughrean (Simon & Schuster, 1992).

Williams (1991) Greek Myths for Young Children. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, n.p. Image credit: GREEK MYTHS FOR YOUNG CHILDREN. Copyright 1991 by Marcia Williams. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA on behalf of Walker Books, London.

Williams (1991) Greek Myths for Young Children. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, n.p. Image credit: GREEK MYTHS FOR YOUNG CHILDREN. Copyright 1991 by Marcia Williams. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA on behalf of Walker Books, London.

Townsend (2010) Amazing Greek Myths of Wonder and Blunders