Marchenko N.

Biographical writing strategies and biography discourse for children and youth in Ukraine (2014-2019)

Abstract: The biographical publications that appeared in the repertoire of children’s books in Ukraine in 2014-2019 are systematized. Fundamentally new phenomena in biographical writing strategies and discourse of biography for children and adolescents are analyzed and how they influence the development of biographical reading in the country. Domestic and translation fiction and non-fiction books for all ages of children readers are analyzed. Attention is focused on the “picture book”, artbook, publishing and author’s biographical series, publications of the encyclopedic sample. The source of the study is a sample of de vizo from the repertoire of books presented in the holdings of the National Library for Children (October 1, 2019) and the publication (including reference bibliographic indexes) of the Children’s Library Network of Ukraine. It was found that the turning points for self-identification of Ukrainian society in 2014 created a fundamentally different, compared to the previous, domestic biographical discourse and radically changed the forms and methods of biographicalwriting. Postmodern thinking, for which the imperative of reinterpretationis crucial, has also played a significant role in this process. as a result, the pantheon and personality of the people were rethought, as well as an algorithm for finding and presenting biographical knowledge. In 2014-2019, children’s books actively use new forms of biographical writingthat meet current information paradigms and the needs of children and young people. Modern biographical publications for children have become motivating, so it is important to put a meaningful emphasis. In these books, the illustrative series is dominated by text, so highlights and facts are highlighted in fonts, illustrations, and more. These editions also feature game elements, augmented reality elements, and more. Issues of biographical discourse are being updated. The Ukrainian biographicalbook for children presents post-colonial and gender topics. Intellectual and spiritual biography (for example, scholars and priests) is actively developing. The hero is seen in the paradigm of “his” / “alien”. The hero may be present in the children’s biography as a representative of the established pantheon and as a simulacrum of culture. All this is done with the aim of forming tolerance and humanity in Ukrainian children and young people, critical attitude towards reality.

Keywords: biographical publication for children and youth, book for children and adolescents, biography.

  Full-text PDF    https://doi.org/10.15407/ub.18.173     Citation

• Marchenko N. (Institute of Biographical Research of VNLU (Kyiv, Ukraine)) ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9814-0826

Cite:
Marchenko N. (2019). Biographical writing strategies and biography discourse for children and youth in Ukraine (2014-2019). Biographistica Ukrainica, (18) 173-194. (In Ukrainan). https://doi.org/10.15407/ub.18.173

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