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Curiouser & Curiouser: Reflection and Reflexion: Female Coming-of-Age, the Mirror Stage, and the Absence of Mirrors in Robin McKinley's contemporary retellings of Folk and Fairy Tales

journal contribution
posted on 2025-06-25, 04:22 authored by Evelyn Perry
In Robin McKinley's novels Beauty and Rose Daughter, Deerskin, and Spindle's End, adolescent coming-of-age doubles Lacan's psychological development in that it contains a second set of Lacan's three stages of a child's psychological development. McKinley describes adolescent coming-of-age as a psychological development both traumatic and identity-shaping; its ultimate success allows young adults to understand their actions as individuals as well as members of the adult community.

History

Journal

The Looking Glass : New Perspectives on Children's Literature

ISSN

1551-5680

Volume

7

Issue

3

Publisher

La Trobe University

Section Title

Jabberwocky

Date Created

2010-04-29

Rights Statement

Essays and articles published in The Looking Glass may be reproduced for non-profit use by any educational or public institution; letters to the editor and on-site comments made by our readers may not be used without the expressed permission of that individual. Any commercial use of this journal, in whole or in part, by any means, is prohibited. Authors of accepted articles assign to The Looking Glass the right to publish and distribute their text electronically and to archive and make it permanently available electronically. They retain the copyright and, 90 days after initial publication, may republish it in any form they wish as long as The Looking Glass is acknowledged as the original source.

Data source

OJS data migration 2025: https://ojs.latrobe.edu.au/ojs/index.php/tlg/article/view/197

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    The Looking Glass

    Categories

    Keywords

    Children's LiteraturePsychologyChild development

    Licence

    CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

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