Worlds Subverted

World Subverted: A Generic Analysis of Children¿s Fiction examines three important works in English children¿s fiction: C. S. Lewis¿s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Philip Pullman¿s The Subtle Knife, the second book of his trilogy His Dark Materials, and J. K. Rowling¿s Harry Potter and the Philosopher¿s Stone. The novels are analyzed in terms of their approaches toward the conventions of fairy tale, fantasy and romance; to this end the novels are evaluated in relation to their concept of chronotope, and the quest of good versus evil. While the secondary world or multiple worlds presented are analyzed in terms of their perception of time and space along with the presentation of the supernatural elements, the characters are evaluated in terms of the common classification good versus evil. The main argument of this study concentrates on the gradual estrangement from the crystal clear distinctions of the fairy tale genre to a more shadowy, pessimistic, and ambivalent vision of the fantastic in the children¿s literature.