For a theory of children’s literature: Peter Hunt’s case

Abstract

As the first specialist in children's literature to be appointed Head Professor at a British university (The Cardiff University), when Peter Hunt chose children’s and youth literature as his PhD theme, he was told by his advisor that it was not a seriously enough subject. During the 1980s, there were no literary critics in Britain who focused on children’s and youth books analysis. Since then, Peter Hunt is devoted to thinking children's literature by a critical and theoretical bias. Thus, this paper aims to study the theoretical and critical issues raised by Peter Hunt in order to extract a specific theory of children's literature. In proposing to study children's literature by a theoretical bias instead of by a historical, cultural or emotional one, the English researcher is concerned with issues such as the concept of the book as an object, the notion of reader and reading (how do children construct meaning?), and especially the children's literature definition. These issues are raised into the broadest context of the Twentieth Century literary theory, making them more comprehensive and productive.