Children's Literature and Culture
1 total work
The tales of Sinbad the Sailor and Aladdin have long entertained children in the English-speaking world. In this volume, Mack traces the evolution of these tales in works for children from the late eighteenth century to the present day. Examining how the tales have changed as they've been adapted for children, Mack argues that it was no coincidence that the adaptations began immediately following the creation of British India, and that the first adaptations of the tales reflected a desire to import an European morality to Britain's Oriental empire. From the 1920s onward, however, adaptations began to include a variety of textual apparatus, ranging from notes and glossaries to maps, biographies, and supplementary essays, all of which helped the young readers more fully and sympathetically understand the environment from which the stories originated, and the world they sought to depict.