Wednesday, October 29, 2008

My Book and Heart Shall Never Part

My Book and Heart Shall Never Part seems to mostly be about children and literature. The deeper meaning that at first escaped me has to do with fairy tales engaging children, which affects them positively. Since both literature and children are in a state of liminality, each helps the other try to overcome their dichtomous nature. Children are in a state of liminality because they are caught between childhood and adulthood, and are always struggling toward the latter. Literature is in a state of liminality because it is caught between reality and fantasy, and never seems to decide which way to struggle towards. Literature helps a child towards adulthood in its gift of knowledge and experience, but it helps keep them in childhood with its willing suspension of disbelief. My Book and Heart Shall Never Part is about this give and take process, how literature affects children, and how children affect literature.

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