Crossover Books for a Dual Audience

According to Rachel Falconer, author of The Crossover Novel, it began with Harry Potter: adults reading books that were originally written for children or young adults. The book market soon recognized the potential for additional sales and promoted books that were either directly addressed at or apt to be read by a dual audience of different generations. This phenomenon, largely known as crossover has come to be recognized as an important feature of successful bookselling; some critics (e.g. Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer) even argue that it is one of the markers of a book’s canonicity. Addressing a dual readership is, however, not a new phenomenon at all – books addressed and sold for different age groups can be found from the beginnings of a children’s book market. In this seminar, which will scrutinize the features and, especially, literary qualities of selected crossover fiction, we will therefore begin by looking at extracts from ‘older’ books that can be regarded as crossover: for example, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Lewis Carroll’s Alice books and A.A. Milne’s books on Winnie-the-Pooh. Reading these books alongside theoretical considerations on crossover fiction will give us a solid ground from which to embark on analyses of more recent examples of books labeled ‘crossover’: J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Philipp Pullman’s Northern Lights, Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Markus Zuzak’s The Book Thief. Students are expected to read the following texts in full (please get your own copies – all books are available second hand at little expense): • Markus Zuzak, The Book Thief (to be read by beginning of November); • Mark Haddon, The Curious Incidient of the Dog in the Night-Time (to be read by mid-November); • J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (to be read by January); • Philipp Pullman, Northern Lights (also available as The Golden Compass – the book’s title for the American Market; to be read by January). Extracts of the following texts will be provided for on the moodle website • Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels; • Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass; • A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner Recommended secondary sources: • Becket, Sandra. Crossover Fiction: Global and Historical Perspectives.London: Routledge, 2009. • Falconer, Rachel. The Crossover Novel: Children’s Fiction and its Adult Readership.London: Routledge, 2009. Leistungsnachweis 2 LP (Lehramt, BA): short oral presentation with visualization OR short written assignment on a crossover title that is not dealt with in class (either your own choice or from a list to be distributed via moodle and in the first week of term) (1000-1500 words) to be handed in by 30 January 2012. 5 LP (Lehramt): oral presentation / expert session with visualization and written elaboration (2000-3000 words) to be handed in by 16 March 2012 7 LP (BA): oral presentation / expert session with visualization and term paper (3500-4500 words) to be handed in by 16 March 2012. Anglistik - Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaft BA-LKM (Semester 2 und höher): erfolgreicher Abschluss der Module 1-3 Lehramt GY und BK: erfolgreicher Abschluss der Zwischenprüfung 2 LP (Lehramt, BA): short oral presentation with visualization OR short written assignment on a crossover title that is not dealt with in class (either your own choice or from a list to be distributed via moodle and in the first week of term) (1000-1500 words) to be handed in by 30 January 2012. 5 LP (Lehramt): oral presentation / expert session with visualization and written elaboration (2000-3000 words) to be handed in by 16 March 2012 7 LP (BA): oral presentation / expert session with visualization and term paper (3500-4500 words) to be handed in by 16 March 2012. Universität Siegen WiSe 2011/12 Univ.-Prof. Dr. Müller Anja