From Mythic To Linear: Time in Children's Literature (review)

Maria Nikolajeva, in her latest book, From Mythic To Linear, presents a view of children's literature from a perspective of time. Exploring what she describes as a continuum of texts beginning with those expressing nonlinear time and proceeding toward linearity, Nikolajeva takes her train of thought from the archaic or mythical to contemporary mainstream children's literature. She does this by exploring how time is presented in children's texts, viewing this as "a symbolic depiction of a maturation process rather than a strictly mimetic reflection of a concrete 'reality'"(1). Nikolajeva presents a thesis reflecting some purely existential questions that she feels are inherent in all children's fiction: "who are we? why are we here? Is there any reason for life?"

Nikolajeva is admittedly interested in how childhood itself is reflected in literature, both that which is written solely for children and that which presents the image of "child" as a symbol of purity and innocence. Works such as The Wind in the Willows, Peter Pan, The Secret Garden, and Winnie-the-Pooh are examined for their presentation of the concepts of life, death, and time. Nikolajeva suggests that the language and settings used in these stories create worlds dwelling in either the mythic, non-linear mode, such as Wind in the Willows and Peter Pan, where time seems static and life is essentially never-changing, or in Little Women, where time passes, characters mature and grow, and life for them does eventually evolve into adulthood.

Peter Pan, the quintessential story of the land where one is forever young, and one that has been analyzed from many angles, Nikolajeva interprets as presenting a scenario that never offers a tomorrow, or next year, only suspended time, since any attempt to become an adult is looked upon as negative. The language used is a key indicator of the characters' beliefs concerning adults and adulthood. Nikolajeva illustrates this by quoting Peter as he states emphatically that "I don't want ever to be a man.... I want always to be a little boy and to have fun" (88).

Nikolajeva explores in depth the presentation in children's books of the innocence of childhood. Beatrix Potter's stories, Paddington Bear's adventures, and Winnie-the-Pooh are among those that illustrate, she feels, this ideal of comfort and security in children's literature. These settings, however, are mythical, ideal, and the characters have no knowledge of the outside, linear, adult world-which is seen (as through Christopher Robin's education) as a threat to their peaceful, happy existence.

As Nikolajeva moves toward her investigation of linearity in children's books, she looks at time travelers, or linear, goal-oriented stories. The jungle is summoned up in several stories quoted here. One of my favorite jungle-summoning stories mentioned is Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. Max, determined to assert his independence, summons forth the jungle in a dream, becoming king of the Wild Things, as he is accused of being one himself. Here, as well as in the Narnia stories, Max achieves status and power, only to become the child again when he awakens from his dream. I also see this story, and many others mentioned in From Mythic To Linear, as appealing to children on several different levels. Reader response theories suggest that children bring their own ideas, biases, and experiences to the stories they read. The younger the child, the less he or she is aware of what next year, or even tomorrow, means. What one child sees in a story, another may not. Certainly what ideas and compulsions adults incorporate into Alice in Wonderland children would, at certain age levels, totally misunderstand or dismiss, seeing only the mysterious adventures Alice experiences, and the curious creatures she encounters. As a child, I myself worried about how Alice would finally find her way back home.

As readers mature they bring deeper questions to the books they read, and also take deeper messages from them. In...