An approach to novel genre features in literature for children

The author points out the problems in researching novel genre features bearing in mind the fact that the issue of orientation in a singled out genre frame is a fundamental methodological issue. Besides, for the theory of genre it is important to perceive it also from the standpoint of a new genre, such as novel. Starting with the assumption that the novel in literature for children should be analyzed within the frame of general development of the genre, not neglecting specific features of literature for children, the author analyzed the novels by Ante Stanicic, written in the second half of the twentieth century, the period which was labeled as the 'novel era' by literary critics. Having noticed a genre syncretism as one of the characteristics of Stanicic's novels, the author offered a more precise genre specification. The final part deals with the sub-genre variety as being in connection with an important moment of 'carnivalization' as a feature of the narrative culture from which the author originated.