Coraline (novel) notes PDF

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LECTURE NOTES Coraline 

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Who's Gothic is this? o It does fall under children's literature o Adult's literature - content was graphic and horrific o Pure genre that is always age appropriate etc o Marketable to adults o Adult audience writing for children o Duel audience o Stranger danger and fear of loosing children o Two stakeholders in this genre o Purpose of CL - what is it? Entertain children or teach them? o Didactic o Adolescence in gothic lit: used as a cautionary tale o GL and CL: occupy irreconcilable positions  Appear to be case on the surface o Literary works for children: traditionally required to limit horrifying images o Gothic: associated with negative elements, confusion, doubt, horror  Unknown become forces to question human nature o Emphasis on portraying the terrifying, use of the super natural, highly stereotyped characters, literary success  Submersion of norms o Morality and religious base  Doubting  Contradict idea of C.L  Definition of the genre:  Distinct and definable genre of lit characteristics that emerge from adult ideas of childhood  Western notions of childhood - turning 18 means you're an adult o CL difficult to define - stories are associated with didactic literature o What adults think children will like and what adults think children need to read o Interests: seek to fulfill adult's needs and wants o CL: offers pattern of self discovery and affirmation (present in Coraline) Didacticism in Coraline o Moralistic intention in CL  Darkness of gothic elements will blur the positive values for minors  Merging of two genres: we don’t want to scare the children. Does it undermine the gothic as a genre? Neil Gaiman o o o o

Family: Jewish Lives in United States Love of books, reading and stories Works of C.S Lewis, Poe etc

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Readers in childhood: see influence of their favourite authors in their works Self described as: feral child raised in libraries Liberians: inspire love of reading Began writing as a journalist  Early writing: good at taking the voice that already existed and parodying it Sand Man: US awards First comic to receive an award One of creators of modern comic Reaches audiences of all ages Listed as one of the top tens of post modern writers Pros, poems, film, journalism, drama Cult status and attracted increased media attention Gaiman books: genre work that refuses to remain true to their genres  Break boundaries  Characteristic of amazing authors  Shakespeare also broke boundaries Gothic horror  1990s: out of fashion  Didn’t stop Gaiman to write this text (2002)  Too frightening for children  Rejected by one publisher  Won a British style fiction award etc Inspired by Tim Burton

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Between age of 9 and 12 "The Other Mother"  Threatens to destroy protagonist  Victorians can do something that can deeply unsettle children Reading from first few pages  Description: short temper, attitude, liked to explore, doesn’t listen to the adults  Divide between the adults and the children  Coraline: inquisitive girl  At the other end is an alternant world - replica of her house  Other Mother: skin is white as paper, fingers too long, skinnier, buttons Page 26 (When Coraline finds the other world)  "Old black key…"  Familiar about it… explaining the same features of her house  She knew where she was…she was in her own home. She hadn't lef  "wasn’t exactly the same" - uncanny  Hansel and Gretel, Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe  Button eyes: you get emotion and understanding from peoples eyes

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The Other Mother  Delicious food  Real mother: cooks from packets  World is an allusion and a trap  She wants to take Coraline's eyes and replace them with buttons  Page 81  "Took a deep breath and let it go"  The other children (trapped)  Is it terror, horror and is it effective?  Addressing Children's mortality  Child ghosts - taboo compared to what is normal  Them being ghostly is horrific  Chronotope?  Mix between male and female chronotope  L,W,W: When children are not missed when they go back  Ghosts appear and inhabit same world as Coraline  There is a portal that she goes through into the other world  Coraline's response to seeing these ghosts?  She didn't act as someone should  She didn't try to get away or run out  Children have a connection to a spiritual world - not afraid  Greater acceptance of the fantastical  She was very calm, "How did you get here"

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Coraline resolves comfortably o Saves the souls of the three ghost children o Releases parents o There was nothing lef about school that could scare her anymore  Why is this important?  Built up a tolerance of a real world  Bridging them into what to expect and how to face their fears  Role of literature to provide a safe space for children to explore the scary and the real world  Literature: important space to explore horrific elements and they can come out of it and they're still safe

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Horror in Coraline o Domesticated and made hygienic  Palette to an average audience o Originally told it was unpublishable o Adults are more afraid of Coraline than children are o For children: they're going on an adventure

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For adults: don’t want to expose children to this Broader context that adults bring to the reading Psychological terror for adults Children don’t think about what's behind the action Terror heightened in the book  Ofen is the case because the book provides room for a child's imagination  Film lays it out for you

Meets other parents in exact copies Buttons instead of eyes Dark reality behind happy surface Silences, gaps are characteristic of the gothic  Produce the terror What the other mother is not telling Coraline Black Buttons: no human expression (powerful symbols) Paranormal manifestations Existence of a dark uncanny universe (setting for the novel) How does the uncanny function in Coraline and to what ends? Journey of self discovery Idealisation of family love Protagonist: average child, typical young women, spirited and cheeky, adventurous Part of a standard family - no member of the family stands out Mother and Father work: parents stay in the house Coraline: only different because she is interested in exploration, observant

Which one is better? Page 30 and page 45 Positive messages to young readers Gothic texts: depend on a moralising conclusion

Real Parents and Boredom o Strong sense of boredom and neglect o Interesting aspect of CL: absent parents o Parents are present but they're absent in their presence o Appears in a lot of CL  L,W,W, The Witches, Pippy, The Book Thief o Why does this feature so often?  Following someone who is relatable  Not in an adult world  Moral compass  Autonomy House o Utterly boring o Action of escaping into unknown reality - central to Coraline and CL and gothic lit o Negative vision of own parents - important in Gothicism and CL

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Detachment Idea of abandonment - leads to self discovery Questioning of the world For gothic: fear is not what is seen but what is sensed beyond sight (button eyes) Coraline parents, house, neighbours: unappealing reality that she dislikes but must accept  Important in Gothicism Feelings of insecurity - catalyse of adventures to begin

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Captivity

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The Cat

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Gothic House Mysterious neighbours Mist and rain Uncharted territory Page 32 Resentful because she feels her parents do not pay attention Negative behaviours: release when she is in contact of other world Corrected because of this interaction Two world work together

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Symbolic meaning Attempts to get Coraline to stay Agree to requirement to become apart of the allusion that she cherishes Promise of material love Embrace an uncanny experience/ existence Abandon humanity Overcome own fear - strength to challenge other mother

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Ghost children

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Cats are no strangers to gothic literature Guardians of unknown worlds Page 73 Only figure she can trust No real associations w Coraline but does help her Page 65

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Escape refinement Eat life of the children Sell soul Symbols of failed love Other world looking for affection Idealised love - consumes the person Coraline: makes young readers aware of valuable love

Ghosts

TUTORIAL NOTES Coraline

Discuss the appropriateness of the Gothic as a genre for Children’s literature. 

What is the point of domesticating the horror in Coraline? What impact does the domestic setting have on the effectiveness of the text? 

It has been suggested that one of Coraline’s main messages to children is to appreciate the flawed-real over the illusory-ideal. Discuss. How effective is Gaiman’s didacticism? Do you think Children’s literature should be used for such ends, or purely for entertainment?  Terror or Horror  Anticipating what might be  Coraline: exciting world of the other mother  Psychological level  Realisation on a horrifying level  "The Other Mother" horrific  Terror: psychological experience o Anticipation of the fright o Cat running across etc o Relief o Terror anticipating was a canapé

NOTES Coraline Adolescence or Adult Gothic? Karen Coats “Between Horror, Humour and Hope: Neil Gaiman and the Psychic Work of the Gothic” in, Anna Jackson, Karen Coats & Roderick McGillis (eds.) The Gothic in Children’s Literature: Haunting the Borders. Routledge: New York, 2008. 

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Children's Gothic o prevalent enough as a phenomenon to represent what can be considered a cultural symptom an indicator that points to an under- lying trauma o ofen in such a displaced or condensed way that there is no apparent link between the trauma and its symptom Certain Gothic motifs in his work, including big old houses with secret spaces, doppelgangers, dream-visions, and dark tunnels operate as metaphors for unconscious depths o also employs Gothic themes through the use of the macabre, the ghostly, and the anti-expected he is bringing Gothic resonances to the whole range of age groups in children's literature, from his picture books Gaiman ofen combines humour and horror o legacy of the Gothic since its inception  indicates the close relation between fear and humour as two affective responses to incongruent stimuli

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Traditional adult Gothic has tended to give a sinister infection to fairy tale tropes and motifs o combining elements of horror and the supernatural to produce situations in which the humble subject can become a hero or a heroine The dark landscapes, inappropriate lusts, and ravenous villains correspond to the dangerous impulses + aggressions that children actually experience as part of their own mental topographies Coraline: bored Coraline caught in that liminal moment...