Writable and Unwritable: Writing about Death in Mahua Children’s Novels

可写与不可写： 马华少儿长篇小说中的死亡书写

Abstract

Whether in the East or the West, children's literature aims at promoting mental development, joy, cheerfulness, and happiness. “Truth, goodness, beauty” and “love” are common themes in children's literature, and it rarely touches on issues of death. However, in real life, children cannot completely avoid themselves from facing the impact of death.If children's literature is completely isolated from the topic of death, it will undoubtedly
miss the opportunity for the young readers to think about issues of death through reading. Therefore, how to address issues of death in children's literature is a question that publishers, authors, teachers and parents need to discuss. This article uses Mahua children’s novels as an example to discuss the difficulties, expressions, and educational significance of children’s literature in dealing with issues of death.

摘要
不论在东西方，少儿文学以益智、怡情、明朗、欢乐为旨归，“真善美”和“爱”是常见的主题，较少碰触到死亡议题。然而在现实生活中，少年儿童也无法完全回避面对死亡的冲击。若在少儿文学中彻底与死亡议题切割，无疑错失让少儿读者通过阅读去思考死亡的机会。因此，如何在少儿文学作品中碰触死亡，是出版社、作者、老师以及家长需要探讨的问题。本文将以马华少儿长篇小说为例，探讨少儿文学处理死亡议题的难题、表达形式，以及教育意义。