Ethics in British Children's Literature Unexamined Life

Featuring close readings of selected poetry, visual texts, short stories and novels published for children since 1945 from Naughty Amelia Janeto Watership Down, this is the first extensive study of the nature and form of ethical discourse in British children's literature. Ethics in British Children's Literatureexplores the extent to which contemporary writing for children might be considered philosophical, tackling ethical spheres relevant to and arising from books for young people, such as naughtiness, good and evil, family life, and environmental ethics. Rigorously engaging with influential moral philosophers, from Aristotle through Kant and Hegel, to Arno Leopold, Iris Murdoch, Mary Midgley, and Lars Svendsen, this book demonstrates the narrative strategies employed to engage young readers as moral agents.

Lisa Sainsbury is Director of the National Centre for Research in Children's Literature, University of Roehampton, UK.

List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Unexamined Life in The Inferno
1.The Sin of Indifference (Part I): Beyond Naughty
2. The Sin of Indifference (Part II): Discovering Evil
3. Moral Ammunition: Growing Out of Dissatisfaction through Ethical Life
4. Midnight Philosophy and Environmental Ethics
5. The Making of Monsters: Duty, Gender and the Rightness of Wrong
6. The Greatness of Apple Seeds: Ethical Relationships in Miniature Literature
Conclusion: Through the Library...Towards a Life Examined
References