The Uses of Irony and the Carnivalesque in Leigh Hobbs’ Picture Books

Authors

  • Nicole Humphrey

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21153/pecl2003vol13no2art1290

Keywords:

Leigh Hobbs, grotesque, irony, picture books, carnivalesque, Old Tom, Horrible Harriet, social norms

Abstract

Leigh Hobbs' popular Australian texts are reviewed to consider their carnivalesque and interrogative qualities. His series of 'Old Tom' books, and 'Horrible Harriet' deploy a number of features of carnivalesque textuality, notably the grotesque realism with which bodily functions are depicted, strategies of role-playing which disrupt social norms, and the interrogation of hierarchies and status.

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References

Bakhtin, Mikhail (1994) ‘Carnival ambivalence’, in Pam Morris (ed) The Bakhtin Reader: Selected Writings of Bakhtin, Medvedev, Volishinov, trans Helene Iswolsky, London, Arnold, pp.194-244.

Hobbs, Leigh (1994) Old Tom, Camberwell, Vic, Puffin.

Hobbs, Leigh (1995) Old Tom at the Beach, Camberwell, Vic, Puffin.

Hobbs, Leigh (1997) Old Tom Goes to Mars, Camberwell, Vic, Puffin.

Hobbs, Leigh (1998) Old Tom’s Guide to Being Good, Camberwell, Vic, Puffin.

Hobbs, Leigh (2001) Horrible Harriet, Crows Nest, NSW, Allen and Unwin.

Hobbs, Leigh (2002) Old Tom’s Holiday, Sydney, ABC Books.

Nodelman, Perry (1988) ‘Irony in picture books: subjectivity and objectivity, time and space’, in Words About Pictures: The Narrative Art of Children’s Picture Books, Athens, Georgia, University of Georgia Press.

Stephens, John (1992) ‘Ideology, carnival and interrogative texts’, in Language and Ideology in Children’s Fiction, London, Longman, pp.120-157.

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Published

2003-07-01

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

“The Uses of Irony and the Carnivalesque in Leigh Hobbs’ Picture Books” (2003) Papers: Explorations into Children’s Literature, 13(2), pp. 37–41. doi:10.21153/pecl2003vol13no2art1290.

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