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- Black History and the Writers who Made/Make It
- Giving Blue Day - Literary Journalism Initiative
- The fall 2018 issue of LSA Magazine spotlights Michael Byers and his audio drama, Mary from Michigan.
- Phil Christman, lecturer II in English language and literature, has been featured in The Record for his work as editor of the Michigan Review of Prisoner Creative Writing.
- Michigan voters made history on election night November 6, 2018 by choosing Dana Nessel to become the state’s first openly gay attorney general.
- An LSA professor looks to radio’s past to create a contemporary radio drama.
- 13 Contemporary Women Writers
- 10 Latinx Authors Everyone Should Read
- 9 Intersectional LGBTQ+ Authors
- Susan Scott Parrish Receives James Russell Lowell Honorable Mention
- Melanie Yergeau Awarded MLA Prize for a First Book
- Desai Receives Humanities Award
- Kumarasamy Makes Long List
- Land of Tomorrow awarded Bredvold Prize
- Ladies' Greek Named Best Book
- Gere and Mattawa selected for Mellon Program for Humanities and Public Engagement
- Melanie Yergeau wins CCCC Lavender Rhetorics Award
- Sandra Gunning Named Arthur F. Thurnau Professor
- UC Davis Professor Gina Bloom to Give Shakespeare Birthday Lecture
- English 322: Community Journalism
- English 344 (Writing for Publication/Public Writing) Introduces Students to Modern-Day Journalism
- Interview with Alumna Lillian Li: Living and Writing in Ann Arbor
- Undergraduate Writers at Café Shapiro
- Learning about the Midwest in the Midwest
- Learning about the Midwest in the Midwest
- A Summer in Northern Michigan – GLACE Summer Program
- English 317 Literature of Medicine
- Treading Through Treader
- Buzz Alexander: A Legacy Through Social Movement
- Catherine Lacey Emphasizes the Beauty of Mistakes in Lecture on Fiction Craft
- Course Spotlight: English 371
- Live Poetry and Open Mic in Downtown Ann Arbor
- Lost in Translation
- The Little Prince Feels Like Home
- Fun Home: Alison Bechdel’s Decidedly Not Pretentious Study of Fatherhood
- How Instapoets Made Poetry Accessible
- What Does an Online English Course Look Like?
- Quarantine Reading Suggestions: Informational Genre
- The World’s on Fire, and We’re Telling Stories
- English 313 Students Create Digital Exhibit
- Gamble Receives Distinguished Dissertation Award
- Goodison Receives Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry
- Brandolino, horror engages students
- Alien Miss receives honorable mention
- Outstanding Research Mentor: Molly Beer
- Goodison elected to American Academy of Arts and Science
- Professor Khan to receive Class of 1923 Award
- Mendoza Selected for John H. D’Arms Award
- Lahiri Elected to University Senate
- Staff Members Honored
- Alumna Katarina Kovac is SEEN
- Emeritus & Alum Author 'Rhymes'
- Porter Receives 'Combating Racism Grant'
- Lecturer Having Positive Impact
- English Team Receives Humanities Grant
- Tessier Receives SSD Award
- Byers' Sibling Rivalry
- Balachander explores environment and race
- Gillian White on Bernadette Mayer's 'Memory'
- Writing Into and Out of My Long-Distance Grief by Dur e Aziz Amna
- Whittier-Ferguson on Eliot & Hale
- Bennett listed as part of TIME100Next
- Career Advice Event with Alumni
- 2023 Heberle Award & Lecture
- Scholars and Schooners
- The Art of Healing
- A Report from a Visit to the New England Literature Program
- Engaging Environmental Journalism with Emilia Askari and Julie Halpert
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Introduction
A Menagerie of Animal Tales presents an exciting array of recent and historical editions of classic stories for children. The exhibition addresses a fundamental question: why are children’s books filled with animal figures? As you will see, animals express aspects of children’s emotional lives, reflecting deep feelings while also serving as proxies for various impulses, from mischief to curiosity to aggression. They also embody children’s basic needs, such as hunger, curiosity, and affection.
Animals offer powerful points of identification for child readers. Qualities associated with animals in these tales matched newly crystallizing definitions of youth in the period of Romanticism and after, recasting as heroic qualities formerly viewed as dangerous in the young: inquisitiveness, imagination, nonconformity, and rebelliousness. Goldilocks is a figure of domestic disruption. Puss in Boots uses his wiles to pilfer a fortune. The animal also came to function a figure for the child’s abject status; Andersen’s ugly duckling is a mirror for the outcast child who struggles to find his place in the world; the Bremen Town musicians are likewise rejected by society and come together to form an alternative community. The students of English 313 welcome you to the wilderness of the classic animal tale, where you will discover husbandly bears, eloquent mice, stalwart tortoises, dapper cats, grave-digging owls, and scheming goats. Enter if you dare!
--Lisa Makman, Department of English Language and Literature
Lisa Makman is a Lecture III and Internship Director for the department of English Language and Literature. She teaches English 313: Children's Literature and the Invention of Modern Childhood.