Deconstructing the Hero: Literary Theory and Children's Literature

Rating:
Summary: Buy it if you need someone to bash in your footnotes.
Review: The title of this book would lead any buyer to believe that it offers fresh insight into a mainstay of literature - the hero - an insight that promises a dissection of those myths, fantasies, epics and legends with which all readers are, to diferent extents, familiar. Be it as academic, teacher, reader or film watcher, cartoon and comic book afficionado, or role-player (the list is huge), the works open to deconstruction are expansive and the opportuntities this book offered limitless. Instead we get a hodge-podge of destruction, not deconstruction, as Hourihan veers wildly from genre to genre and across expanses of time without any acknowledgement of their significance. Throughout this book the reader will find superficial and unsubstantiated assertions which the writer fails to adequately explore and which are often undercut by misunderstandings and shallow interpretations of themes, errors of plot analysis, descriptive mistakes when outlining events and inadequately researched analysis of textual allusions. Finally the condescension that Hourihan seems to hold for those readers who do not share her view, that these narratives are white male supremacy in action, that according to her, 'cling' to tales that are 'vivid, enjoyable, easily understood, memorable and compelling' sets the tone of the entire book but says much more about her than about the works supposedly under analysis. The one redeeming feature is her description of the theories supposedly underlying her book - the author's failure to make adequate use of them in her analysis is one of its many failings.

Rating:
Summary: thought provoking if ...
Review: This is a book that maps out a territory, summarising what's known about it, without being the definitive guide. I bought this book as I was looking for background information for a unit of work on children's literature. I needed a geneal starting point that would introduce me to the theories I needed to deal with. As I wasn't looking for any answers, just things to think about, I found it very useful. Even when disagreeing with what she was saying or how she was applying the theories she was describing, I felt that she was provoking a response and forcing me to justify why i disagreed with her. I found it a invaluable starting point for the work I wanted to do and would recommend it to anyone as just that, a starting point in a very involved and involving debate. The book is uneven in its treatment, possibly a litle patronising (which is ironic) but it is an effective and readable introduction to this field of study and at least after reading it you will have some idea of the territory.