French Literature Reviews - 2026

Alizon Pergher, Les Émotions des garçons dans les romans de jeunesse. Astrid Lindgren, Reif Larsen, Jean-Claude Mourlevat
Comparative and World Literature

Alizon Pergher

Les Émotions des garçons dans les romans de jeunesse. Astrid Lindgren, Reif Larsen, Jean-Claude Mourlevat

Paris, Classiques Garnier, coll. “Perspectives comparatistes”, no. 150, 2025.

Since the turn of the 1970s in France, Sweden, and the United States, children's and young adult literature has increasingly focused on the emotional lives of male characters, offering diverse representations of their feelings, though not always managing to completely overcome persistent stereotypes.

Table of Contents

Also available in a hardcover edition - EAN 9782406184430 - priced at 89 euros

This scholarly study examines how children and young adult literature from France, Sweden, and the United States has addressed the emotional lives of male characters since the early 1970s. Alizon Pergher explores the literary representations of boys' feelings across works by authors such as Astrid Lindgren, Reif Larsen, and Jean-Claude Mourlevat. The volume investigates the extent to which these narratives offer diverse portrayals while simultaneously navigating or remaining constrained by persistent cultural stereotypes associated with masculinity in contemporary fiction for younger audiences.

The analysis contributes to the broader critical engagement with children's literature, gender representation, and comparative literary studies within the humanities. By focusing on three distinct national contexts—France, Sweden, and the United States—the book engages with the evolving ways in which psychological interiority and affective experiences have been constructed for male protagonists in youth fiction over recent decades. Readers interested in the representation of gender and emotion in modern fiction may find this comparative perspective relevant to their reading.