Re-examining the “Hero’s Journey”: A critical reflection on literature selection for affective bibliotherapy programs on resilience

Year, pages: 2023, 113 - 125

This article critically examines the Hero’s Journey arc, popular in affective bibliotherapy for children and young people. Privileging this archetypal model of resilience represses and excludes difference. It posits two alternatives, foregrounding characters who face additional cultural, social, and political factors that hinder their capacity to act, and argues that bibliotherapy must be inclusive, incorporating stories that offer alternative depictions of resilience that are complicated, messy, and non-linear but no less “heroic”.

Reynolds, K. 2023. Re-examining the “Hero’s Journey”: A critical reflection on literature selection for affective bibliotherapy programs on resilience. In World Literature Studies, vol. 15, no.2, pp. 113-125. 1337-9275. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31577/WLS.2023.15.2.10

Reynolds, K. (2023). Re-examining the “Hero’s Journey”: A critical reflection on literature selection for affective bibliotherapy programs on resilience. World Literature Studies, 15(2), 113-125. 1337-9275. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31577/WLS.2023.15.2.10

Publisher: Ústav svetovej literatúry SAV, v. v. i.