Abstract:
Critical discourses about realism and fantasy in children’s literature have in the past included discussion of the merits, and demerits, of these conventions as they differently engage child readers. Beatrix Potter’s works, situated at an intersection of the two literary conventions, invite a useful complication of the distinction commonly made between them. Potter is clearly a fantasist. Yet aspects of her work support a scholarly tendency to claim her for realism, and this is often done by connecting Potter’s life and works. In early biographies of Potter as well as critical discussions of her works, attention was deflected away from Potter’s imaginative fantasy and towards her verifiable contact with the natural world of the Lakes District. This paper considers Potter's 'Peter Rabbit' books in the light of their depictions of human/animal interchangeabilities, arguing that Potter's fantasy is subtle and nuanced in its representations and contestations of the categories 'human' and 'animal'.