EDU 31ACL – Australian Children’s Literature Australian Family Stories No Guns for Asmir Christobel Mattingley © La Trobe University, David Beagley, 2005

Useful references Myer, M. (2000) Storying War. The Lion and the Unicorn. [online] 27(3) Available: Project Muse. Kertzer, A. (1999) "Do You Know What 'Auschwitz' Means?“ Children's Literature and the Holocaust. The Lion and the Unicorn. [online] 23(2) Available: Project Muse.

Focus points  Background and scaffolding - Christobel Mattingley - historical context for No Guns for Asmir  Strategies used to ‘fictionalize’ a true story  Distinctive features of this story as a ‘family story’ and Australian literature

Background and scaffolding - Christobel Mattingley  Born 1931  Has had 32 books published  Traditional storyteller – fiction and non-fiction  Success writing about, and for, boys  Has won many awards and honours

Historical background to No Guns for Asmir  Yugoslavia formed after World War One to try to solve centuries of fighting in the Balkans – the traditional border between Europe, Asia and the Middle East  Made up of 8 regions: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia- Herzegonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Vojvodina, Macedonia  All the regions had differing cultural/religious histories and bitter antagonisms – Muslim/Christian, Catholic/Orthodox, Slavic/Turkish, Multicultural/Nationalist etc.

Historical background to No Guns for Asmir  Factions were rigidly kept united under President Tito post World War Two  When Tito died (1980), the union unravelled quickly and the countries fought bitterly for independence and dominance.  So, by early 1990s, war and ‘ethnic cleansing’ in the former Yugoslavia as factions sought to exert and extend their dominance  Milosovic, Srebenica, Sarajevo, Kosovo

Strategies used to ‘fictionalize’ a true story - memoirs  Use of point of view – involved, not detached author/observer/learned commentator  Thus, direct/immediate – speech, thoughts, “little” details of life  Takes factual experience and makes it personal  Words focus on trying to make sense of the situation, rather than analyse/judge it

Strategies used to ‘fictionalize’ a true story - memoirs  True story, but all seen from Asmir’s point of view  Focus on his possessions and feelings e.g. lego, trying to make friends  Displacement/disconnection – a child’s confusion  Refugee experience – never belonging  Constructed in a way children can understand – personal situation and emotional reactions  Construes the theme, rather than stating it

Strategies used to ‘fictionalize’ a true story - memoirs  Not easy to make war or similar atrocious experience clear for young children  Making it real for children in their terms, as a child’s experience e.g. The Silver Sword, I am David, Parvana, Carrie’s War, Goodnight Mr. Tom, Little Brother, Rose Blanche  factual/documentary – accuracy of setting  Focus on dreams and re-actions - mental state rather than all action

Strategies used to ‘fictionalize’ a true story - memoirs Much of the focus of adult literature on the Holocaust is "to remember." The invocation of memory has at least two purposes: to memorialize those who died so ignominiously and who were cremated or buried in pits or otherwise unremembered at the time of their death. Secondly, the memory is intended to forestall such mass slaughter, such racial hatred from recurring. With child readers, however, memory is not being invoked; it is being created (and indeed, as more time elapses between the Holocaust and the present, this will be true of all readers). Baer, E. (2000) A new algorithm in evil: children’s literature and the Holocaust. The Lion and the Unicorn. [online] 24(3): 379

Distinctive features of this story as a family story Major themes about family, as well as setting in family 1. Loss of:  sense of place  language and culture  identity – personal and family  family members  belongings

Distinctive features of this story as a family story 2. Attitude of characters to family  Asmir’s feelings – absent father, protective to others:  present of chocolate for his mother  attitude towards Elan (younger brother)  Miroslav’s choice between identities  denial/loss of sense of family  Loss of sense of “owned” space  rescue of Milan

Parting question How is this book Australian Children’s Literature?  Author – Christobel Mattingley  Characters – Chris and his parents  Thematic relevance – Asylum seekers, detainees  Universality of Family as social construct