Post-Doctoral/Early-Career Research Bursary Winner

Postgraduate Research Bursary Winner

Dr Jennifer Gouck, UCD

“Exploring the Manic Pixie Dream Boy in Jenn Benett’s The Anatomical Shape of a Heart“

Children’s Literature Association (ChLA) Annual Conference

“The Children’s Literature Association (ChLA) Annual Conference is one of most prestigious (and largest) conferences in the field of Children’s and Young Adult (YA) literature and this year’s conference, held in Madison Wisconsin, marked the 50th anniversary of ChLA’s founding. The theme, “Looking Back, Looking Forward” allowed for critical reflection not only on fifty years of the association, but on fifty years of the study of Children’s and YA literature itself. Children’s and YA literature has often occupied a marginalised space within the humanities – the academic equivalent, to borrow from Anna Mae Duane, of sitting at the children’s table at Christmas, Thanksgiving, or some other big meal where you’re “denied the good china, seated at a wobbly folding table, [and] placed out of earshot of the juicy adult gossip” (1). Over the past fifty years, though, the field has gone from strength to strength, evidenced by the wide range of papers on offer at this year’s conference which covered topics from nineteenth-century literature, to romance, to theorising justice and everything in between. The IAAS Research Bursary allowed my paper, entitled “Exploring the Manic Pixie Dream Boy in Jenn Benett’s The Anatomical
Shape of a Heart“, to be a part of this wonderfully diverse programme.

Based on a chapter from my forthcoming monograph, which focuses on the Manic Pixie Dream Girl (MPDG) in contemporary American YA literature, the paper explored what happens when the quirky MPDG (a female trope who exists merely as a tool for self-actualisation and has no narrative purpose beyond that of enriching the life of an apathetic, White, male, cisgender, heterosexual, middle-class protagonist) is male. Although the Manic Pixie Dream Boy (MPDB) is ‘not like other boys’ in much the same way as the MPDG is ‘not like other girls’, in this paper I argued that his apparent ‘alternative’ masculinity is not quite so alternative after all: ultimately, the MPDB serves to reinforce (and, indeed, enforce) patriarchal norms.

The conference planning gods had shone upon me, as my co-panellists’ presentations all spoke beautifully to one another and provided new ways of thinking about my own research; Emma K. McNamara (Ohio State University) offered a thought-provoking reading of boys (or, rather, the lack of them) within YA romance, while Delaney Sullivan (Kansas State University) explored the relationship between feminism, adolescence, and democracy in Katharine McGee’s American Royals series, which imagines America as a monarchy rather than a republic. Finally, Myers Enlow (University of Memphis) discussed the reimagining of the marriage plot within YA fiction, unpacking how these texts have moved ‘beyond the altar’.

Other highlights from the conference included the International Scholar Solidarity lunch (ChLA’s delegation is largely comprised of North American scholars, and so it was wonderful to meet others from Europe, Asia, and beyond); a Plenary session featuring past presidents; and the Francelia Butler Lecture given by Dr Ebony Elizabeth Thomas in which she put forward the notions of ‘speculative grief’, ‘speculative hope’, and the ‘reparative promise’ of children’s literature. Thomas’ lecture also touched on issues such as the representation of the Black American and other African Diaspora, the erasure of Indigenous peoples, and the ongoing war in Palestine, leading to an emotional standing ovation at the plenary’s close.

I am thrilled to have attended this year’s conference. Snatched moments between panels, at lunches or dinners, or during walks around the city, were just as enriching as the research papers themselves. It’s no secret that academia is an increasingly difficult environment on multiple levels – not least financially – and I am incredibly grateful for the generosity of organisations like the IAAS. Thank you for your support.”