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Plant–Human Hybridity in the Story World of Kubbe

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Ecocritical Perspectives on Children's Texts and Cultures

Part of the book series: Critical Approaches to Children's Literature ((CRACL))

Abstract

Drawing on posthuman theorists Donna Haraway, N. Katherine Hayles and Rosi Braidotti and on recent plant theory, Guanio-Uluru in this chapter provides a multi-faceted analysis of the story world of Kubbe, developed by Norwegian picturebook author and illustrator Åshild Kanstad Johnsen. The narratives’ main character, Kubbe, is a log of wood with anthropomorphic features and thus a representation of the figure of child and nature as one. Examining Kubbe and his environment through comparison with Carlo Collodi’s character of Pinocchio and with the Aristotelian view of plant capacities, Guanio-Uluru argues that the immediately idyllic view of plant–human relationships in Johnson’s story world is problematized in particular in light of plant theory.

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Correspondence to Lykke Guanio-Uluru .

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Guanio-Uluru, L. (2018). Plant–Human Hybridity in the Story World of Kubbe. In: Goga, N., Guanio-Uluru, L., Hallås, B., Nyrnes, A. (eds) Ecocritical Perspectives on Children's Texts and Cultures. Critical Approaches to Children's Literature. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90497-9_8

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