Meg Rosoff

1
Meg Rosoffs How I Live Now (2004)

• Rosoffs text participates in the following
  genres
• The Problem Novel
• War literature
• Science Fiction
• Rosoffs text considers controversial subject
  matter
• Eating disorders
• Incest
• Cutting
• War
• Death
• Survivors Guilt

• Rosoff is an American author who now lives in
  England well want to consider whether we can
  identify specifically American or British
  aspects of the novel
• How I Live Now won the Guardian Childrens
  Fiction Prize and the Printz Award
• Some critics consider it to be a crossover
  novel others classify it as YA Lit

2
Reviews

• Publishers Weekly
• Teens may feel that they have experienced a war
  themselves as they vicariously witness Daisy's
  worst nightmares. Like the heroine, readers will
  emerge from the rubble much shaken, a little
  wiser and with perhaps a greater sense of
  humanity.
• The School Library Journal
• Though the novel has disturbing elements, Rosoff
  handles the harshness of war and the taboo of
  incest with honest introspection. This Printz
  award winner is a good choice for book
  discussions as it considers the disruption of war
  both physically and emotionally and should be on
  every high school and public library shelf.

3
Reviews

• Critic John McLay
• Rosoff's writing style is both brilliant and
  frustrating. Her descriptions are wonderful, as
  is her ability to portray the emotions of her
  characters. However, her long sentences and total
  lack of punctuation for dialogue can be
  exhausting. Her narrative is deeply engaging and
  yet a bit unbelievable. The end of the book is
  dramatic, but too sudden. The book has a raw,
  unfinished feel about it, yet that somehow adds
  to the experience of reading it.

4
Why did the Problem Novel Become Popular in the
1960s?

• Critic Gail Murray suggests
• A new construction of childhood emerged during
  the 1960s. It recognized that children could
  not always be protected from the dangers and
  sorrows of real life they might be better
  prepared to cope with pain if adults did not try
  to protect them from it. The boundaries that had
  protected children and adolescents from adult
  responsibilities throughout the 19th century and
  the first half of the 20th century became much
  more permeable. Such previously defined adult
  issues as sexuality and suffering entered the
  realm of childhood.

5
Sheila Egoffs Definition of The Problem Novel

• The protagonist is alienated and hostile toward
  adults.
• Some relief from unhappiness comes from a
  relationship with an adult outside the family.
• The story is often told in the first person and
  is often confessional and self-centered.
• The narrative is told from the point of view of
  an ordinary child, often in the vernacular
  vocabulary is limited tone is often flat, and
  emotionally detached.
• Dialogue predominates.
• The settings are urban.
• Sexuality is openly and frequently discussed.
• Parents are absent, either physically or
  emotionally.

6
Childrens Literature and War

• On May 1st 2004, at Froebel College, Roehampton,
  in partnership with NCRCL, Action for Childrens
  Arts ran an Inspiration Day entitled Childrens
  Literature and War.
• The main speakers were the Childrens Laureate
• Michael Morpurgo, Elizabeth Laird, Michael
  Foreman, Charles Way - all prize winning writers
  who have written fictional stories set against a
  background of war academic Geoff Fox and
  special guest Philip Pullman.
• National Center for Research in Childrens
  Literature

7
Conclusions of the NCRCL Participants

• Children deserve psychological depth in the
  depiction of war - they need to see and
  understand the enemy as human.
• Fiction acts as a bridge between the fantasy of
  warfare (as for example in the filmed battle
  scenes of the Lord of the Rings) and the brutal
  reality of news coverage seen almost daily by
  children on the television.
• The imagination has a transfiguring effect and
  some hope can be presented even within the
  bleakest and most poignant of stories.

• Particularly challenging is the task of
  representing current conflicts rather than past
  conflicts - even those of the more recent past
  (World War 2) which, although vivid to most of
  the writers represented in these discussions,
  nevertheless remain distant to the present
  generation of children.
• As artists, the clearest responsibility that they
  saw was to present a personal vision of the
  truth.

8
Science Fiction Sub-genre of Fantasy

• Science Fiction is a sub-genre of Fantasy, so
  lets begin by defining the genre
• A work of fantasy is one in which at least one
  element of the story does not conform to natural
  laws.
• When discussing fantasy, we distinguish between
  the primary world and the secondary world. The
  primary world refers to the world we live in,
  where natural laws are observed. The secondary
  world refers to another place, where one or more
  of the natural laws have been suspended.

9
Science Fiction Primary v. Secondary World

• In some works of fantasy, characters only know a
  primary world, but it is a world in which
  something happens that does not conform to
  natural laws. For instance, the Harry Potter
  series takes place in the primary world, as
  witches and wizards live alongside Muggles in
  modern day Britain. Sometimes they are able to
  shroud their actions from Muggles by hiding
  Hogwarts in a mist or placing the Ministry of
  Magic underground in London however, there is
  not a separate magic world.

10
Science Fiction Primary v. Secondary World

• In other works of fantasy, characters begin in
  the primary world, but find some way to enter the
  secondary world. In the C.S. Lewis Narnia
  series, for instance, the characters find a
  portal to a secondary world through a disused
  wardrobe.
• Finally, there are fantasy texts in which the
  characters live in a secondary world throughout
  the novel. A good example of this sort of text
  would be Lois Lowrys The Giver, which takes
  place in an entirely fictional society.

11
Types of Fantasy

• Most scholars agree that there are four subgenres
  of Fantasy
• animal fantasy
• time fantasy
• high fantasy
• science-fiction fantasy

12
Animal Fantasy

• Judith Hillman notes Animal fantasies derive
  from one of the oldest forms of literature the
  beast fable. Fables, folktales, and other forms
  of traditional literature showed human affinity
  to animals in the many depictions of
  anthropomorphism. In modern fantasy, the best
  examples of childrens literature show a careful
  blend of human characteristics with animal
  qualities.

13
Time Fantasy

• Judith Hillmans definition The notion that
  time runs in several directions has long
  fascinated authors, scientists, and philosophers.
  Is time cyclical or is it linear? Do other
  worlds exist in different time schemes? In time
  fantasies, authors construct parallel worlds that
  touch our primary world in places, allowing time
  travel back and forth. Another world running
  simultaneously to our presents all sorts of
  possibilities in literary invention. In
  addition, there are historical time fantasies in
  which a character from the present can go back in
  time, or a character from long ago can come to
  the present.

14
High Fantasy, Part I

• High Fantasy High fantasy evolved from an
  earlier form of literature, the medieval romance
  of the 11th and 12th centuries. In this form,
  the exploits of hero figures such as King Arthur
  and his knights were featured, and the plots
  centered on a quest that would prove the
  worthiness or lack thereof of the central
  characters. In recent years, a number of novels
  have been set during this time period, but the
  medieval world has gone from being a primary
  world setting to a secondary world setting its
  emphasis on the exploits of heroic, its focus on
  the code of chivalry, and its setting all mark
  its difference from the modern world.

15
High Fantasy, Part 2

• In High Fantasy, the battle between good and evil
  is fought on a physical level, but also on a
  philosophical one as Hillman notes, the main
  character is often a common person who is called
  on to perform beyond his or her capabilities, but
  somehow summons the strength to do it.

16
Science Fiction Fantasy

• In s-ff, the secondary world is typically set in
  the future or in an unspecified now.
• The best science fiction balances technological
  concerns, a solid storyline, and a compelling
  vision of the future. If it is successful, it
  leads us to rethink our current society, its
  values, and its very construction.

17
Pre-reading Questions

• As you read Rosoffs How I Live Now, you should
  consider these questions
• Why might Rosoff want to juxtapose a problem
  novel with a war novel? What insights might
  young readers take away by comparing their own
  life issues with broader world issues?
• Is there a normative center in this novel? If
  you feel that there is, identify it and explain
  WHY you feel it to be a place where ideal human
  interaction occurs.
• In what ways does Daisy grow throughout the
  narrative? What do you find to be her strengths?
  Her weaknesses?

18
Pre-reading Questions

• More questions
• It is legal to marry ones first cousin in
  England and in many US states. But its a
  controversial scenario, as even Daisy recognizes.
  What did you make of this aspect of the novel?
  Do you agree with The School Library Journal
  reviewer, who comments Rosoff handles
  thetaboo of incest with honest introspection?
• Some critics have argued that Rosoff makes the
  unreal seem real and the real seem unreal. In
  other words, she creates a situation in which
  everyday life becomes strange and unfamiliar, and
  where strange things become normal. As you read
  through the text, select at least one or two
  instances where you think that this happens.

19
Pre-reading Questions

• Still more questions
• The massacre scene is extremely powerful, as is
  the murder scene earlier in the text. Consider
  how these scenes are presented what techniques
  does Rosoff use to engage her readers with what
  is incredibly disturbing material?
• Read the final section of the novel very
  carefully. What do you make of the description
  of the garden? Do you find any symbolism in the
  description?
• Finally, for extra credit, can you identify any
  places in the text where Rosoff is creating
  intertextuality with earlier classics of
  childrens literature?