Literary critics and authors have long argued about the importance
or unimportance of an author's relationship to readers. What can be
said about the rhetorical relationship that exists between author
and reader? How do authors manipulate character, specifically, to
modulate the emotional appeal of character so a reader will feel
empathy, awe, even delight? In At Arm's Length: A Rhetoric of
Character in Children's and Young Adult Literature, Mike Cadden
takes a rhetorical approach that complements structural, affective,
and cognitive readings. The study offers a detailed examination of
the ways authorial choice results in emotional invitation. Cadden
sounds the modulation of characters along a continuum from those
larger than life and awe inspiring to the life-sized and
empathetic, down to the pitiable and ridiculous, and all those
spaces between. Cadden examines how authors alternate between
holding the young reader at arm's length from and drawing them into
emotional intensity. This balance and modulation are key to a
rhetorical understanding of character in literature, film, and
television for the young. Written in accessible language and of
interest and use to undergraduates and seasoned critics, At Arm's
Length provides a broad analysis of stories for the young child and
young adult, in book, film, and television. Throughout, Cadden
touches on important topics in children's literature studies,
including the role of safety in children's media, as well as
character in multicultural and diverse literature. In addition to
treating ""traditional"" works, he analyzes special cases-forms,
including picture books, verse novels, and graphic novels, and
modes like comedy, romance, and tragedy.
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