Subversive Literature for Children

Otto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I don't know if anyone would call this book a classic, though it is by Howard Pyle, famous for his King Arthur books and others in the medieval romance genre. But I think it could be and deserves greater notice as a groundbreaking novel for young people.

One sticking point is its pseudo-archaic English, with "What dost thou seek?" and "Thou couldst live as some others do." It is used only in the dialogue, and the narration is in plainer English, but it still is an impediment to understanding for many.

The genre as well is one that has lost favor, though it lies near fantasy and historical fiction on the Big Map of Literary Types (don't google it; I just made it up). Even more in 2019 than in 1888, it is type of book that is not to everyone's taste. In addition, it is more or less a middle grade book (though such designations came into existence long after the novel) which means that most of those with the reading skills to comfortably read the novel are too old for it.

It is almost the opposite of the hi/lo genre--high interest books written at a low reading level for reluctant readers. This book might be used in a class setting, but the language would remain difficult for many students at the age it is aimed at. OTOH, I'm an old man, and I liked it, so it could meet success with somewhat older students. I think. :)

With those caveats, I still think this book should be read more widely, and I believe an attractive edition could find favor with some audiences even now. It's a fun action story of cold-hearted knights and impregnable fortresses and bravery and cruelty and daring rescues. (No one is murdered by pirates.) The main character is sympathetic, a gently-raised boy with a good heart, and his father, though not a good man, has an interesting arc that ends with the reader seeing the good in him. It's not long at about 25,000 words--it is, after all, a children's book--and so reads quickly.

I liked how the author subverted so many of the expectations of similar novels--including his own. Otto's father is a literal robber baron, a nobleman who robs and extorts those traveling through his lands. He is impatient, selfish, and only ethical within a narrow definition that made sense at the time but does not hold up now. The narrator explicitly points out the cruelty of the time, the immorality, the injustice; he shows how power was used to exploit the weak and the vulnerable. Partly, he does this by making his main character weak, or at least seemingly so. He's young, mostly raised in a monastery, and so good-natured and compassionate that he is considered simpleminded, but we know at the end he becomes (spoiler, I suppose--were you gonna read this?) a respected adviser to kings. He's not a fool. He's kind. To cruel men, those things look the same.

In effect, the author is saying, "Don't be fooled by chivalric romances. They disguise the brutality of that age as a period of righteousness and honor and call the oppression of the people by knights and nobles just and good." To my mind, this is very modern. This is the author admitting to impressionable young readers that we've lied to them, that we've sold them a pretty story, making them think that power systems like monarchy and serfdom are fair, the people are happy, when they were in fact typically brutal regimes with horrific oppression. To me, that kind of honesty in a children's book is badass.

[It's also illustrated by the author. That's a good thing, right? We need more of that, IMO.]

I found this novel entertaining and its message effective, and so I recommend it--even if you're old. :)

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