Culture Codes in Children’s Literature: Voices from Scotland and Armenia

Abstract

The article studies culture codes in contemporary children’s literature and aims to identify how language units and imagery condense and transmit the culture code of a specific society and epoch. The authors narrow down the research to two countries — Scotland and Armenia — because of the common features of their children’s literature: the use of a different language in fiction, the approach to the cultural component in fiction and the influence of the countries’ past. The research has two distinct directions: based on selected texts by Scottish writers the paper discusses the issue of transmitting culture codes in a multi-voiced medium. Further, based on the text by Narine Abgarian, a Russian writer of Armenian origin, the culture codes of childhood in the multicultural setting are discussed. It is argued that despite the current trends in the international book market, children’s literature containing authentic cultural information should be promoted. Such children’s literature performs an important mission toward shaping the readers’ identity, raising awareness of one’s own culture and facilitating intercultural communication.

Keywords

• children’s literature
• culture code
• the code of childhood
• frank rodgers
• mairi hedderwick
• multi-voiced medium
• multiculturalism
• narine abgaryan
• retro-components
• symbols