AustLit

'Critics have long since noted that children's literature of the Holocaust is caught between two binary oppositions: it must offer an emphatic didactic message whilst simultaneously providing an appropriate 'safe' distance between the implied reader and the atrocities committed. The result is that texts of this kind frequently consign the most brutal aspects of the story to the periphery of the narrative as a lack and the true horror of the Holocaust is reified in more conceptual forms. In other words, that which is said may be explained by that which is not said. Taking cognitive poetics as my methodological approach, I attempt to illustrate the ways in which the said/not-said binary can be usefully manipulated as a means of facilitating the requirements for both didacticism and appropriate suitability simultaneously. Through an examination of the uses of conceptual integration and metonymy, I demonstrate the power of – and issues surrounding – silence as a means of representation in itself.' (Publication abstract)

'YA fiction is largely about adolescent maturation – or flourishing – and in Western narratives this is imagined through narratives of growth. Within the institution of the family, growth is typically imagined in YA fiction in terms of adolescent rebellion, and in this frame the institutions that surround adolescents – schools, families, communities – tend to be depicted as repressive. This article explores an alternative view of the institution of the family offered in Judith Clarke's novels. In One Whole and Perfect Day, for example, adolescents flourish when in families that value mutual care above conformity to normative views of what a family should be; in Night Train, adolescents fail to flourish when sufficient (or 'good enough') family caring is not available to them. This article draws on research in cognitive narratology and the interdisciplinary field of wellbeing studies to suggest that Clarke's novels model a kind of caring – 'good enough' caring – which entails a nuanced view of successful maturation that carefully holds in balance both the fragility of the individual and an optimistic view of caring for others. Such balance is essential for the flourishing of adolescents and, indeed, of people of all ages.Keywords. blending, cognitive narratology, emotion, flourishing, Judith Clarke'