The descent to the underworld is one of our oldest stories. It
recurs in the most influential texts of early European literature -
the Odyssey, the Aeneid, the Inferno - and no less so in the
classics of children's literature. Vaclavik shows that retellings
for young readers certainly shift emphases, working the legend
through transformations of all kinds, but also that much of the
traditional katabasis story remains firmly in place. The critical
study of children's literature remains a relatively new field, in
which such fundamental presences have gone largely unnoticed. As
Vaclavik demonstrates, many novels which remain lively and resonant
for adult readers richly repay critical attention. And if the
incomparable explorer's tales of Jules Verne, H. Rider Haggard,
Hector Malot and even Lewis Carroll have proved durable beyond all
expectations, one reason may be that there is no lure like that of
the underworld, and none harder to escape. Kiera Vaclavik is
Lecturer in French and Comparative Literature at Queen Mary,
University of London.
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