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SUMMARY:Horse Tales: Writing the Equine in Children’s Literature - K. M.
  Peyton\, Meg Rosoff\, Jane Badger\, Susanna Forrest
DTSTART:20160521T080000Z
DTEND:20160521T173000Z
UID:TALK65500@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:46250
DESCRIPTION:_A One-Day Conference at Homerton College_\n\n‘As long as th
 ere are ponies in them…I don't mind how many adventures I have. Somehow 
 when you've got ponies you always have adventures.’ \n_Ruby Ferguson\, J
 ill and the Perfect Pony_\n\n‘I'd rather have a goddam horse.  A horse i
 s at least human\, for God's sake.’ \n_J.D. Salinger\, The Catcher in th
 e Rye_\n\nThe body of the horse is fraught with competing anxieties. Assoc
 iated with elitism on the one-hand and labour on the other\, it is both a 
 beast of burden and a symbolic site of freedom and natural power. The wide
 -ranging and often competing associations of the horse make it a vibrant i
 maginative symbol. It is perhaps telling that the most famous – although
  certainly not the earliest – animal autobiography is that narrated ‘f
 rom the original equine’ by Anna Sewell. \n\nThe fantasy of ‘knowing t
 he horse’\, of being able to speak to it and for it\, is powerfully evoc
 ative. That _Black Beauty_ itself is as invested in issues of gender\, cla
 ss and social reform as it is in issues of animal husbandry speaks to the 
 complex associations and cultural anxieties that surround narratives of th
 e horse.\n\nThe purpose of this one-day conference is to explore how the h
 orse is represented and deployed specifically in fiction aimed at young au
 diences. The pony story is much maligned as an idealistic and ephemeral ge
 nre that capitalizes on a childish love of horses that is meant to be outg
 rown and which is highly gendered (i.e. overwhelmingly associated with the
  needs and interests of young girls). We will attempt to unravel and rethi
 nk this critical stance by taking a broader view of the role and function 
 of the horse in fiction for young readers.\nInvited speakers include much 
 celebrated and prolific writer of equine fiction *K.M Peyton* (_Flambards_
 ) *Meg Rosoff* (_The Bride’s Farewell and How I Live Now_)\, *Jane Badge
 r* (_Heroines on Horseback The Pony Book in Children’s Fiction_) and *Su
 sanna Forrest* (_If Wishes Were Horses: a Memoir of Equine Obsession_)\n\n
 *Registration is now open at http://bit.do/horsetales*  \n\nEnquiries to: 
 *Dr Georgie Horrell* (gah27@cam.ac.uk) or *Dr Zoe Jaques* (zj216@cam.ac.uk
 )
LOCATION:Mary Allan Building\, Homerton College\, Hills Road\, Cambridge C
 B2 8PQ
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