Several scholars have tried to define the term children’s literature from different angles to provide a universal definition but as childhood is not a static condition and in turn a child is also the product of a particular culture. Thus children’s literature is also the product of a particular culture. One definition is right in one particular context and another one is in another context but a common one that crosses cultural barriers does not almost exist. All active persons in this particular field have tried to reach at a common conclusion and have attempted to make children’s literature a universal concept. There exists a lack of a universal definition of this term. The present research paper is a fruitful attempt to browse almost all the definitions by different scholars active in this particular field and an attempt has been made to observe all the angles through which the definitions are made. Actually different scholars have defined the term from different perspectives and that’s why one universal definition is not possible. Sometimes cultural barriers and sometimes different perspectives have made this term vague rather vivid and this very vagueness has made it in vogue. The present paper is a scholarly attempt to provide a more universal definition irrespective of cultural barriers and previously shaped perspectives by browsing and observing previously held utterances on children’s literature.
Department of English, L.N. Mithila University, Darbhanga
