Is there really no place like home? Changes in the perception of domestic spaces in German picturebooks from 1945 to the present

Abstract

This chapter investigates the changing perceptions of domestic spaces and how it impacts on the complex concept of home in German picturebooks from 1945 until the present. The corpus consists of 38 picturebooks, with roughly five exemplars for each decade. The selection likewise considers the historical fact that Germany has been divided into two states in 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, until the re-union of both states in 1990. Based on the theoretical framework of cognitive studies with an emphasis on cognitive mapping and cognitive narratology, this chapter inquires how children are introduced into the concept of home on the one hand, and how this concept is closely connected with children’s emotional, moral, and cognitive development on the other. As this concept is subject to political, social, and cultural modifications, this survey also demonstrates the impact of these changes onto the narrative and visual depiction of domestic spaces in picturebooks.