Abstract
This paper offers a comparative analysis of two characters belonging to the tradition of empowered “spinster” in children’s fiction, namely Mary Poppins and Ms Wiz, from the perspective of gender politics and child/adult interactions. A distinction is made between the figure portrayed in P. L. Travers’ texts and the Disney film starring Julie Andrews, which turned the magic nanny into a cultural icon. These two renderings of the powerful, single woman, in turn, are contrasted with Terence Blacker’s postmodern depiction of the good witch in the “Ms Wiz” series, with a view to tracing the evolution of the ostracised female wizard, a character inherited from folklore that has its origin in the Great Mother archetype. As is demonstrated, each representation of the supernatural woman modifies the manner in which the feminine influences the patriarchal order.
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Cristina Pérez Valverde is Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Education, University of Granada, where she teaches children’s literature in English. Her publications are focused on children’s literature at the interface between Jungian and cultural studies, folklore, and women’s studies. She has written and edited books on children’s literature, the influence of Celtic symbolism on Irish writers, and the teaching of literature, together with articles dealing with the impact of folklore on women writers. She is also co-translator of a volume of Golden Age stories into Spanish, including texts by Mary de Morgan, George MacDonald and Kenneth Grahame.
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Pérez Valverde, C. Magic Women on the Margins: Ec-centric Models in Mary Poppins and Ms Wiz. Child Lit Educ 40, 263–274 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-009-9090-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-009-9090-3