Childhood Under Fire: Literary Representations of Wartime Trauma and Resilience in Children’s Narratives

1. Rationale and Description

Childhood experiences under the pressures of war and conflict remain a compelling area of investigation within literary studies. Historically, works such as Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl (1947) and Zlata’s Diary (1993) have illustrated not only the stark realities of war but also the resilience and agency of children in these extraordinary circumstances. More recent fictional portrayals of children’s wartime experiences continue to shape our understanding of trauma, identity formation, and the ways in which youth perspectives challenge adult-centric narratives of conflict.

In this dissertation, I will analyze how Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and Zlata’s Diary function as testimonial narratives that capture the lived experience of war through a child’s perspective. These firsthand accounts will be compared to fictional representations of childhood in wartime, allowing for an exploration of how different narrative modes construct childhood under fire. The study will focus on key literary elements, such as narrative voice, perspective, and thematic preoccupations with trauma, resilience, and identity. Rather than adopting a pedagogical or educational framework, this dissertation will center on the literary value of these texts, considering how they contribute to our understanding of both children’s literature and testimonial writing.

2. Proposed Structure

1. Introduction
   • Introduce the research questions, thesis statement, and methodological framework.
   • Define key terms, including “testimonial narrative” and “fictional war narrative.”
   • Discuss the literary significance of childhood war narratives.
2. Chapter One: Contextualizing Wartime Children’s Narratives
   • Explore the historical and literary significance of children’s war narratives.
   • Examine key themes such as trauma, innocence, and agency in wartime literature.
3. Chapter Two: Testimonial Perspectives—Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and Zlata’s Diary
   • Analyze how these diaries represent childhood under siege.
   • Examine their use of first-person narration and evolving self-awareness.
   • Compare their themes of resilience, identity, and loss of innocence.
     

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4. Chapter Three: Fictional Representations of Wartime Childhood
   • Examine how fictional works construct childhood in wartime.
   • Compare narrative strategies to those found in testimonial texts.
5. Conclusion
   • Summarize key findings and reflect on how these works contribute to literary studies.
   • Identify potential gaps and suggest areas for future research.

3. Literature Review

This literature review examines both the primary texts, Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and Zlata’s Diary, and key secondary sources that provide the theoretical and critical framework for this dissertation. It evaluates existing scholarship on childhood war narratives, explores methodological debates, and identifies gaps in research that justify this study.

1. Anne Frank (1947), The Diary of a Young Girl

Anne Frank’s Diary is often regarded as one of the most significant literary testimonies of World War II. It provides a deeply personal yet historically valuable insight into life in hiding during Nazi occupation. Scholars have long debated the literary status of Anne Frank’s diary, questioning whether it should be treated as a purely historical document or a constructed literary text. Critics such as James E. Young (1999) argue that the diary has undergone editorial mediation, particularly in posthumous publications, raising questions about authorship, authenticity, and the shaping of memory. Others, like Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (2005), emphasize the diary’s impact on Holocaust literature and its role in shaping public perceptions of childhood in war. However, despite extensive research on Anne Frank’s diary, studies have primarily focused on its historical and ethical dimensions rather than its literary qualities. This dissertation seeks to redress this gap by conducting a close literary analysis of The Diary of a Young Girl, examining narrative techniques, self-representation, and the evolving agency of Anne as a child writer.

2. Zlata Filipović (1993), Zlata’s Diary

Often compared to Anne Frank’s diary, Zlata’s Diary documents the experiences of a young girl growing up in Sarajevo during the Bosnian War. While both texts share similarities in their testimonial nature, scholars such as Gillian Lathey (2006) argue that Zlata’s Diary differs significantly in its narrative structure and the context of its publication. Unlike Anne Frank’s diary, which was posthumously edited and became a canonical text in Holocaust literature, Zlata’s Diary was published in real-time, raising questions about the role of editorial intervention and market influences in shaping war narratives. Some critics, including Lydia Kokkola (2013), have critiqued the text for being mediated by adult voices, which may affect the authenticity of Zlata’s childlike perspective. This dissertation will contribute to the discussion by exploring how Zlata’s Diary navigates the tension between personal testimony and external mediation, particularly in the ways it constructs childhood resilience and trauma.

3. Clémentine Beauvais (2017), “Next of Kin: ‘The Child’ and ‘The Adult’ in Children’s Literature Theory Today and Tomorrow.”

Beauvais’s essay is fundamental to understanding how adult authors, editors, and readers shape representations of childhood in literature. She argues that there is an inherent “double address” in children’s literature, meaning texts are always simultaneously written for children and interpreted by adults. This theory is particularly relevant to Anne Frank’s Diary and Zlata’s Diary, both of which have been edited and published with adult audiences in mind. A key debate in this area is whether the adult gaze compromises the authenticity of childhood voices in testimonial writing. Scholars such as Maria Nikolajeva (2010) suggest that childhood narratives are often shaped by adult literary expectations, whereas Beauvais maintains that the child’s voice can retain agency despite adult intervention. This dissertation will use Beauvais’s framework to analyze how the two diaries construct childhood experiences of war, and to what extent editorial choices influence their perceived authenticity.

4. Maria Nikolajeva (2005), Aesthetic Approaches to Children’s Literature: An Introduction.

Nikolajeva provides a methodological framework for analyzing children’s literature from a stylistic and aesthetic perspective, arguing that children’s war narratives often blend realism with elements of constructed storytelling. She contrasts testimonial texts like Anne Frank’s diary with fictional war narratives, highlighting how narrative structure and stylistic choices impact the reader’s engagement with childhood trauma. A notable gap in existing research is the lack of comparative studies between testimonial war literature and fictional war narratives. While Nikolajeva discusses these genres separately, this dissertation will build on her work by drawing direct comparisons between the testimonial and fictional modes, analyzing how each represents war through a child’s perspective.

5. Peter Hunt (1994), An Introduction to Children’s Literature.

Hunt’s work is a foundational text in children’s literature criticism, exploring the ways in which texts written for young readers engage with themes of trauma, history, and moral instruction. He argues that children’s war narratives often serve dual purposes: educating young readers about historical events while shaping their emotional and moral responses to conflict. However, some scholars, such as Jack Zipes (2001), critique this approach, suggesting that war narratives written for children tend to oversimplify historical realities in favor of didacticism. This dissertation will engage with this debate by considering whether Anne Frank’s Diary and Zlata’s Diary prioritize historical accuracy over emotional engagement and whether their testimonial nature distinguishes them from fictional war narratives in how they depict trauma.

Gaps in Research and Justification for This Study

1. A lack of literary analysis of testimonial war diaries: Much existing research treats Anne Frank’s Diary and Zlata’s Diary as historical documents rather than literary texts. By applying narrative analysis and children’s literature theory, this study will explore the literary qualities of these works.
2. Limited comparative studies between testimonial and fictional war narratives: While there is extensive research on children’s war literature, few studies compare how testimonial and fictional narratives construct childhood trauma and resilience. This dissertation will contribute to this gap by analyzing the stylistic and thematic differences between firsthand and fictional representations of wartime childhood.
3. The role of editorial intervention in shaping childhood testimony: Both Anne Frank’s Diary and Zlata’s Diary were edited and published with external influence. This study will investigate how editorial decisions impact the authenticity and reception of these texts, particularly in relation to Beauvais’s and Nikolajeva theories of adult mediation in children’s literature.

4. Proposed Bibliography (Secondary Sources)

• Beauvais, C. (2017). “Next of Kin: ‘The Child’ and ‘The Adult’ in Children’s Literature Theory Today and Tomorrow.” Children’s Literature in Education, 48(2), 194–206.
• Hunt, P. (1994). An Introduction to Children’s Literature. Oxford University Press.
• Nikolajeva, M. (2005). Aesthetic Approaches to Children’s Literature: An Introduction. Scarecrow Press.

Primary Texts

• Frank, A. (1947). The Diary of a Young Girl.
• Filipović, Z. (1993). Zlata’s Diary.