struggling to make sense of this quote

[siubhan]

“… [F]ar from inhabiting some unworldly, unfallen plane, children’s literature is not only necessarily infused with and part of the ideological structure of our world, but it is more prone to manipulation than most.”

I can't grasp definitions of unfallen and ideological structure ... also what does it mean by ' more prone to manipulation than most'

just some general ideas will help thanks!

[morgane]

Is there a typo in your quote? I think it's "unfallen place" rather than "unfallen plane", isn't it?
Anyway, I'll try to help you as much as I can.
I think that unfallen here means a world of innocence, as the world of childhood is often described, where everything is good and ideal. There may also be a reference to the Bible: the unfallen world is the Garden of Eden before Adam and Eve tasted the apple and were expelled from it. So here again, it refers to a world of innocence.
As for "the ideological structure of our world", I think it refers to the way our society is organized, maybe the constant battle between good and evil, etc.
Finally, maybe children's literature is "more prone to manipulation than most" because children's books are often kinds of parables, that can explain some aspects of our society, and through children's books, authors can transmit very important messages to their readers.
I don't know if this will be very helpful to you, but I've tried to explain how I understand this quote. It is rather puzzling, but also very interesting since it doesn't undermine the importance of children's literature, as many people do today.

[siubhan]

Thanks Morgane.. It isn't a typo... it is unfallen plane.. would i be right in saying that is means that though it ( chn's lit) is quite innocent and often exists in imaginary contexts.. it is closely linked to the real world and communicates the ideologies that adults/ the author believes are important in shaping children.. and authors can easily do this in children's literature as they can manipulate the texts to suit their own ideologies????

[morgane]

Ok, I just thought "place" made much sense...
But I totally agree with what you say in your post, it is totally what I think the quote means. However, I'm not sure that children's literature is always meant to shape children as you say. For me, anyone can read books belonging to 'children's literature', and anyway, how can a book be defined as a chidlren's book. Take the Harry Potter series for example : yes, children can read them, especially the forst two. But it gets more and more complex after that, and I'm not sure children can grasp the whole meaning of the plots.
Anyway, what I mean is that the so-called children's literature is far more complex than it seems at first sight.
Can I ask you where your quote comes from? I'm curious to know.

[siubhan]

It is a quote by peter hunt it is for an essay i'm doing- for an elective unit at uni :)

[Adras]

University of Norther Iowa???? Possibly? Back to the subject, when I first read this it took me a minute to decipher all the words and to break them down to simpler meanings. Once I did this I started to recognize what they say. I believe you're correct in speakingof "Children's Literature" as innocent.

Actually, bare with me I will go through the poem and speak my mind aloud, er type it aloud. Hahaha.

[F]ar from inhabiting some unworldly, unfallen plane----Speaking of the innocence of children's literature.

children’s literature is not only necessarily infused with and part of the ideological structure of our world,---- What I believe he means by this is that in childrens literature it is most often portrayed as a relistic setting, time period, etc. with un-realistic characters and thus represents our world....


but it is more prone to manipulation than most.” ---- As with anything in our world that is innocent, there will always be someone that wants to manipulate, pervert, break, destroy, desecrate, etc. it......thus Children's literature is no perverted by the author but rather by the reader and how he portrays it...

Thus in conclusion I believe he is almost using it as an analogy to our world. Where in he shows that pure and innocent things are most often perverted by the outside world to be portrayed as they see fit rather than those who created them, wrote them, raised them, etc.(speaking of books and people here) intented for them to become. Children are the most likely form of it. This man being an intelligent older man obviously also saw teenagers as children too. So don't be fooled into thinking it is only children children he is speking of.

I hope this helped. It is simply my take on things.

[Bastet]

I think I've read this before... maybe another view will help. I think it means that children's literature is still written by adults, and therefore it is still biased by the same prejudices (i.e. ideological structures) of the person, time and place of composition. Also, it is very easy to manipulate apparently innocent concepts into different ones when writing "for children", since many ideas tend to acquire a metaphorical meaning.

I hope it helped!

[Captain Pike]

I don't know what was meant by the first part.
more prone to manipulation than most'
might refer to the young reader's impressionable nature.

[ennison]

"Teacher," it's saying, "Leave those kids alone!"