World Tradition and National Specifics of Children's Literature from the Criticism of the IX Century to the Research of the XXI Century

Abstract

The article aims to characterize the specifics of the concept of "children's literature" from the point of view of sociological and structural criteria. The article contains the main arguments in favor of the existence of the concept, their validity is analyzed. The category of the addressee as the main criterion is considered insufficient. So, in children's literature, the type of hero prevails-a child or a visually smaller hero who does not change externally and internally, but is able to change the world around him. The narrator has a pronounced point of view. As a result of the work, an assumption is made about the two-address nature of most of the children's literature, as well as the need for a combination of several criteria for the formation of a "children's discourse". Works of various genres recognized as literature for children serve as examples. The most topical issues in children's literature at the turn of the XIX - XX centuries are analyzed, well-known English and domestic researchers who studied the personality of a child and childhood problems are cited. Special attention is paid to the trends of English neo-Romanticism in children's literature.