Change PhotoMaria Nikolajeva
University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education, Faculty Memberedit
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- Narrative Theory, Children's Literature, Children's and Young Adult Literature, and 19 moreChildren's Literature & Culture, Literary Theory, Literary Criticism, Fairytales, Swedish Literature, Fantasy Literature, Visual Literacy, Cognitive Literary Theory, Russian literature (Literature), Intermediality, Transmediation, Russian Children's Literature, Harry Potter studies, Picture Books, Children's reading, Scandinavian Literature, Literary Translation (Translation Studies), Education, and Philosophy Of Educationedit
- I was born in Russia, and I moved to Sweden in 1981. U... moreI was born in Russia, and I moved to Sweden in 1981.
Until 2008 I was a Professor of Comparative Literature at Stockholm University, Sweden. Now I am a Professor and Chair at the University of Cambridge, UK, which is about the highest an academic can get.
To learn more about my professional career, read my CV on this page. Some highlights include a Fulbright Grant at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; a Fellowship at the International Youth Library in Munich and H. W. Donner Visiting Chair at Åbo Akademi. In 2006 I was also made Honorary Professor at the University of Worcester, UK. In 1993-97 I was President of the International Research Society for Children's Literature. However, the crown of my success is the International Brothers Grimm Award 2005 from the Osaka Institute for Children's Literature, given for a life-time achievement in children's literature research.
I have written and edited twenty scholarly books and about three hundred articles and reviews. I have also published two young adult novels, two picturebooks, a cookbook and a memoir. My current research project is on literary cognitivism.
I have been a visiting lecturer all over the world: Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, Australia and South Africa.
I am married to Staffan Skott, who is a Swedish writer and journalist. We have five children and ten grandchildren.
My current hobbies are gardening, pottery, star gazing, papermaking and miniature making, and I also enjoy cooking and eating a good meal. Believe it or not, but I do read for pleasure sometimes. My favorite book is Winnie-the-Pooh. Recently, I have been re-reading classics, such as Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, Cervantes's Don Quixote and Melville's Moby-Dick. Visit my Shelfari site to learn more.
If you do not find this information sufficient, you can read about me in Something about the Author, volume 127 (Gale, 2002), pp. 161-165. edit - edit
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Contemporary adolescent literature and culture: The emergent adultmore
by Maria Nikolajeva
"Offering a wide range of critical perspectives, this volume explores the moral, ideological and literary landscapes in fiction and other cultural productions aimed at young adults. Topics examined are adolescence and the natural world,... more
"Offering a wide range of critical perspectives, this volume explores the moral, ideological and literary landscapes in fiction and other cultural productions aimed at young adults. Topics examined are adolescence and the natural world, nationhood and identity, the mapping of sexual awakening onto postcolonial awareness, hybridity and trans-racial romance, transgressive sexuality, the sexually abused adolescent body, music as a code for identity formation, representations of adolescent emotion, and what neuroscience research tells us about young adult readers, writers, and young artists.
Throughout, the volume explores the ways writers configure their adolescent protagonists as awkward, alienated, rebellious and unhappy, so that the figure of the young adult becomes a symbol of wider political and societal concerns. Examining in depth significant contemporary novels, including those by Julia Alvarez, Stephenie Meyer, Tamora Pierce, Malorie Blackman and Meg Rosoff, among others, Contemporary Adolescent Literature and Culture illuminates the ways in which the cultural constructions 'adolescent' and 'young adult fiction' share some of society's most painful anxieties and contradictions.
Reviews: 'Contemporary Adolescent Literature and Culture is a theoretically rich collection of essays that gathers together the most compelling and provocative issues currently at play in the study of adolescent literature. Perspectives including feminism, post-colonialism, cognitive linguistics, eco-poetics, genre study, and psychoanalysis work together to demonstrate both how complex adolescent literature is and how much the field has to contribute to the expansion of post-structural literary criticism. The essays are smart, innovative, and sophisticated, making the collection one of the most significant contributions yet to appear in the field.'
Roberta Seelinger Trites, Illinois State University, USA
This title is also available as an ebook, ISBN 978-1-4094-3989-9"
Throughout, the volume explores the ways writers configure their adolescent protagonists as awkward, alienated, rebellious and unhappy, so that the figure of the young adult becomes a symbol of wider political and societal concerns. Examining in depth significant contemporary novels, including those by Julia Alvarez, Stephenie Meyer, Tamora Pierce, Malorie Blackman and Meg Rosoff, among others, Contemporary Adolescent Literature and Culture illuminates the ways in which the cultural constructions 'adolescent' and 'young adult fiction' share some of society's most painful anxieties and contradictions.
Reviews: 'Contemporary Adolescent Literature and Culture is a theoretically rich collection of essays that gathers together the most compelling and provocative issues currently at play in the study of adolescent literature. Perspectives including feminism, post-colonialism, cognitive linguistics, eco-poetics, genre study, and psychoanalysis work together to demonstrate both how complex adolescent literature is and how much the field has to contribute to the expansion of post-structural literary criticism. The essays are smart, innovative, and sophisticated, making the collection one of the most significant contributions yet to appear in the field.'
Roberta Seelinger Trites, Illinois State University, USA
This title is also available as an ebook, ISBN 978-1-4094-3989-9"
More Info: edited by Mary Hilton and Maria Nikolajeva. Ashgate 2012. ISBN 978-1-4094-3988-2
Research Interests:
Children's and Young Adult Literature, Children's Literature & Culture, Adolescent literature, Young Adult Literature, Cognitive Science, and Literary Criticismedit
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Power, Voice and Subjectivity in Literature for Young Peoplemore
by Maria Nikolajeva
More Info: Routledge 2010
Research Interests:
Literary Criticism, Narrative Theory, Literary Theory, Carnival Theory, Queer Theory ( Literature), and 5 moreLanguage and Power, Fantasy Literature, Children's Literature, Children's Literature & Culture, and Children's and Young Adult Literatureedit
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