Child characters are surprisingly common in horror, fantasy, and science fiction literature and films. Children represent innocence and virtue and symbolize the classic question of fantastic literature: What is the future of the human race, and how will science and society improve or impair that future? This collection of essays explores the roles of children in the literature and film of the fantastic. The works vary in critical approach from textual analyses to psychological, historical, and gender- and ethnicity-based interpretations and draw their subject matter from contemporary and classic literary and film pieces. "The Triumph of Teen Prop: Terminator II and the End of History" is a playful discussion of teen propaganda movies and social issues. "E.T. as Fairy Tale" examines how Stephen Spielberg's combination of science fiction, fantasy, and fairy tale elements blends logic and childhood magic. Howard M. Lenhoff connects mythical creatures with biology in "A Real-World Source for the 'Little People': A Comparison of Fairies to Individuals with Williams Syndrome." The literary selection ranges from Alida Allison's study of childhood in Isaac Bashevis Singer's writings to Bud Foote's interpretation of childhood roles in the characters of selected Stephen King works. Other essays consider Henry James's The Turn of the Screw, Anne Rice's The Witching Hour, and the childhood classic Peter Pan.

Tennessee Williams' plays are performed around the world, and are staples of the standard American repertory. His famous portrayals of women engage feminist critics, and as America's leading gay playwright from the repressive postwar period, through Stonewall, to the growth of gay liberation, he represents an important and controversial figure for queer theorists. Gross and his contributors have included all of his plays, a chronology, introduction and bibliography.

Includes "List of books indexed" (published also separately).

In this second book, Guardians of the Realms; The Blood of the Fathers, the Magicians, Askah and Willow Lexus are called on to utilize all of their strengths and abilities to destroy a dark, evil entity that is spreading death, terror and chaos across all of the known realms. They and their friends are called to the Old World of their ancestors to battle a vicious, tyrant from the Realm of Ends that has driven those left alive to the brink of extinction. Once in the Old World, they face unimaginable dangers. Mystics, warlocks, and witches haunt the mountains, along with blood thirsty beasts that seem to see everything as a meal. Ghosts of the past threaten to separate Willow from Askah forever. But who is the real enemy? Mystery and terror lies around every corner. Twists and turns keep the reader on edge as the team makes their way across the devastated Old World looking for the enemy. A wicked storm tears the team apart, sending many of them to find their way back to the others after being pulled into the depths of the Old World caves. Willow hears the voices of the ancients, but are they really the ghosts of those who lived over a thousand years ago? Are they really guiding her in the right direction? And why is the Keeper of the Gates to Hell asking for their help? The battle spills over into Earth's Realm, and their old friends are again there to help them in their fight against evil. Will their losses be too much to bear this time? Is their magic going to be enough?

"Elusive Childhood examines how discourse touched by the identity politics of youth might be revised for fairness. Susan Honeyman demonstrates this potential by reading representations of children from throughout the Modern episteme in works of such writers as Henry James, Edith Wharton, and James Baldwin. Identity politics have changed the way we classify literature by opening up the canon, but they have also changed the way we approach literature. We've learned to recognize that biology is not destiny - sex doesn't necessarily determine gender or orientation, nor do fictitious absolutes like blood ratios measure ethnocultural identity, and so in an effort to avoid false generalizing about "others" we endorse individual self-representation, all the while recognizing how society constructs us." "But when it comes to representing the position we call childhood, there is little opportunity in legitimated discourse for children's self-representation and inadequate attention to social constructedness. Recognizing political inequity in literary representations of children, Honeyman proposes a method of reading child figuration in relief to impose as little adult prejudice as possible. This might be impossible for adults, yet it is necessary to attempt."--BOOK JACKET.

Child and Youth Agency in Science Fiction: Travel, Technology, Time intersects considerations about children’s and youth’s agency with the popular culture genre of science fiction. As scholars in childhood studies and beyond seek to expand understandings of agency in children’s lives, this collection places science fiction at the heart of this endeavor. Retellings of the past, narratives of the present, and new landscapes of the future, each explored in science fiction, allow for creative reimaginings of the capabilities, movements, and agency of youth. Core themes of generation, embodiment, family, identity, belonging, gender, and friendship traverse across the chapters and inform the contributors’ readings of various film, literature, television, and virtual media sources. Here, children and youth are heterogeneous, and agency as a central analytical concept is interrogated through interdisciplinary, intersectional, intergenerational, and posthuman analyses. The contributors argue that there is vast power in science fiction representations of children’s agency to challenge accepted notions of neoliberal agency, enhance understandings of agency in childhood studies, and further contextualize agency in the lives, voices, and cultures of youth.

Vols. for 1869-1952 include Extracts from the proceedings of the Royal Horticultural Society.

A fascinating study of the picaresque protagonists of Yiddish literature and their minority authors