Literary critics and authors have long argued about the importance or
unimportance of an author's relationship to readers. What can be said
about the rhetorical relationship that exists between author and reader?
How do authors manipulate character, specifically, to modulate the
emotional appeal of character so a reader will feel empathy, awe, even
delight?
In At Arm's Length: A Rhetoric of Character in Children's and Young
Adult Literature, Mike Cadden takes a rhetorical approach that
complements structural, affective, and cognitive readings. The study
offers a detailed examination of the ways authorial choice results in
emotional invitation. Cadden sounds the modulation of characters along a
continuum from those larger than life and awe inspiring to the life
sized and empathetic, down to the pitiable and ridiculous, and all those
spaces between. Cadden examines how authors alternate between holding
the young reader at arm's length from and drawing them into emotional
intensity. This balance and modulation are key to a rhetorical
understanding of character in literature, film, and television for the
young.
Written in accessible language and of interest and use to undergraduates
and seasoned critics, At Arm's Length provides a broad analysis of
stories for the young child and young adult, in book, film, and
television. Throughout, Cadden touches on important topics in children's
literature studies, including the role of safety in children's media, as
well as character in multicultural and diverse literature. In addition
to treating "traditional" works, he analyzes special cases--forms,
including picture books, verse novels, and graphic novels, and modes
like comedy, romance, and tragedy.
