Fantasy Genre in Latvian Children’s Literature
Bārbala Stroda
This paper discusses children’s fantasy literature in Latvia and compares it to similar literature in English. The Latvian works used for the comparison were Signe Kraskova’s two books “Monika un Mežs” and “Monika un Dimantu ciltstēvs” and Guntis Berelis’ “Agnese un Tumsas valdnieks”. For the English language fantasy genre Harry Potter’s books by R.K. Rawlings were selected. The author examines the various elements of fantasy genre: existence of another world, movement of characters between worlds, non-linear time, heroes or heroines unusual abilities, supernatural beings, search for something and a conflict between good and evil. The author finds that in Latvian children’s literature the heroes and heroines are younger and more childish than those in Rawlings’ books. Therefore their capabilities and their conflicts are not as impressive. The evil in Latvian fantasy books is made to look foolish and silly and the clash between good and evil is non violent. This detracts from the reality and seriousness of the events described. Generally, however, the fantasy genre is developing similarly in Latvian and English children’s literature.