From: Nina Lindsay <nlindsay>
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 1995 08:00:00 -600

This is in regards to the debate we were having in July about whether
"timelessness" in literature was "good or bad." Perry Nodelman had some very interesting comments on why specifics of a time period can be so important when reading. I recently came upon an interview with Nikki Giovanni in which she touches upon this issue -- on Perry's side, I think -- in regards to her own poetry. The quote is from
_Speaking of Poets 2: More Interviews with Poets who write for Children and Young Adults_, by Jeffrey S. Copeland and Vicki L. Copeland (NCTE, 1994). On page 145, Giovanni says:

"The use of 'here and now' is absolutely essential for the poet ... I feel there is no such thing as a universal theme. There is no such thing as a universal idea. There are ideas that are expressed so well they become great, and we can connect them over the centuries. But who can write like that? ... If you are specific, you will hit the heart. Each person understands certain things."

Perry, is this what you had in mind, more or less? I think she puts it very succintly: that there may be ideas that many people can believe in over a long period of time, but those ideas are still contigent on the time in which they're expressed. I like especially her comment "Each person understands certain things." Many of those
"certain things" we may understand in common, but that understanding happens individually (influenced, of course, by people and trends around us). I'd love to hear what other people think of this idea, now that we can separate it a bit more from our specific discussion of _Walk Two Moons_. How important is it to consider this when looking at childrens' literature?

Nina Lindsay Student--School of Library & Info. Studies UW Madison nlindsay at mail.soemadison.wisc.edu
Received on Mon 21 Aug 1995 09:00:00 AM CDT