Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs Novel study introduction
Dec 18, 2015
Not so novel A long prose narrative that usually
describes fictional characters and events in the form of a sequential story
Historical roots in the fields of medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella
Elements of the novel Construction of the narrative Plot Relation to reality Characterization Use of language
Winslow Homer, The New Novel (1877)
Ransom Riggs American writer and filmmaker Wrote The Sherlock Holmes
Handbook Publisher Quirk Books suggested that
he put together a narrative based on the photos he’d collected
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
Made The New York Times Best Seller List
Another book, Talking Pictures, will follow
Talking Pictures
Riggs’ background Ransom Riggs grew up in suburban Florida Part of his upbringing is reflected in Jacob’s
life Grew up writing stories and making videos Mainly, Riggs
• Writes books• Makes movies• Word-blogs and video-blogs
Do you hear Jacob’s tone in Riggs’ narration of this video?
Interview with Riggs Riggs – “…Geographically, I loved the look
of an island off Scotland called St. Kilda, which is all craggy peaks and steep valleys. Really beautiful, though people haven’t lived there in decades.”
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art172692.asp
A question of genre Non-fiction? Fiction? Science fiction? Fantasy? Autobiographical?
You guessed it…FANTASY
Cairnholm “It was dramatic and beautiful, unlike
any place I’d seen. I felt a little thrill of adventure as we chugged into the bay, as if I were sighting land where maps had noted only a sweep of undistinguished blue.” (67)
Island isolation Fictional island Inspired by Riggs’ interest in travel
The island setting is significant Islands possess a certain mystique
• Isolation lends itself to peculiarities that mainland society is less likely to have