Robinson Crusoe var också vilse : Barnlitteraturens utforskande av närmiljöer som reseberättelser

Sammanfattning: Travel writing studies spans a vast section of literature from travel diaries to tales of explorations and fantastical adventure stories. One area that has been less examined by travel writing is children’s literature. This paper examines the relationship between travel writing and children’s literature from the basis of children being inherent explorers. That is, as persons that are constantly exploring new environments and confronting otherness as a vital part of their development. This relationship is studied by focusing on children’s literature narratives that show the interaction with nearby or everyday environments that are foreign to the child. Environments like “the woods” or a nearby field might fall within what an adult would call nearby surroundings, but to a child they are areas outside of the known world. These aspects make the child’s nearby journey into a narrative that can use or subvert tropes and themes from classic travel writing about exploration or adventure. By studying three children’s texts - “Pippi Longstocking arranges a picnic” (Astrid Lindgren 1945), Bridget and the gray wolves (Pija Lindenbaum 2000) and Lilly vill ha äventyr [Lilly wants an adventure] (Sanna Töringe & Kristina Digman 2007) – this paper examines the relationship between children’s narratives of exploring one’s near surroundings and the explorations of far away and exotic lands in travel writing. Several connections are shown where the texts use motifs from travel writing, such as highlighting elements of fear connected to unknown environments and animals in the explorations of new spaces.