Geschichte der deutschen Kinder- und Jugendliteratur [History of German children’s literature] (review)

This third edition of the History of German Children’s Literature, originally published in 1990 and first revised in 2002, offers a survey of German-language literature for children and young adults from its beginnings to the present. It approaches the subject using the well-proven tools of literary analysis and social and cultural history. But this revised edition differentiates more carefully, adds nuances, shifts emphasis, and adds valuable information. The reworked chapters, such as the one on literature produced in exile or the one on fascist children’s literature, go into more detail. There are also new additions, like the chapter on Jewish children’s literature. All of this allows for better contextualisation; works are no longer presented in isolation, but are firmly placed within the larger framework of historical, literary, and social developments (e.g. the chapter From the Last Third of the Nineteenth Century to World War I). The third edition places special emphasis on the twentieth century. It revises long-held, but obsolete judgments on the literary production of the 1950s, for example, and pays greater attention to recent and current trends. The more traditional division of the twentieth century into decades is abandoned in favour of systematic categories, such as content (Literature on History), genre, or target audience (Literature for Girls). The important final chapter Media and Multimedia contextualises children’s literature within the contemporary multi-media environment. Thanks to this revised edition, the History of German Children’s Literature remains an indispensable reference tool, which takes into account the most recent developments not only of literary production, but also of scholarship.