Creating Mary Poppins: Exploring the Dynamics of the Artistic Collaboration between the Illustrator Mary Shepard and the Writer P.L. Travers
Article
Article Title | Creating Mary Poppins: Exploring the Dynamics of the Artistic Collaboration between the Illustrator Mary Shepard and the Writer P.L. Travers |
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ERA Journal ID | 41094 |
Article Category | Article |
Authors | Baguley, Margaret and Kerby, Martin |
Editors | Leger, J.M. |
Journal Title | Princeton University Library Chronicle |
Journal Citation | 80 (1), pp. 107-151 |
Article Number | 3 |
Number of Pages | 44 |
Year | 2023 |
Publisher | Princeton University Press |
Place of Publication | United States |
ISSN | 0032-8456 |
Web Address (URL) | https://www.jstor.org/journal/prinunivlibrchro |
Abstract | Writing about a fifty-four year collaboration between two people from different backgrounds and possessing remarkably different temperaments is a complicated undertaking. Richard Holmes described biographical writing of this sort as a "kind of pursuit, a tracking of the physical trail of someone's path through the past, a following of footsteps." Our pursuit of the relationship between the author P.L. Travers (1899-1996) and the illustrator Mary Shepard (1909-2000) was made possible by the generosity of a Friends of the Princeton University Library Research Grant rather than the accessibility of our subjects. Travers and Shepard are elusive quarry: both, to varying degrees, sought to cover their tracks. The former created her own personal mythology as a means of obscuring rather than illuminating her past, while the latter preferred the comfort of family and domesticity to the life of a public figure. Both were, as Holmes warned, fleeting figures who had done all in their powers to thwart pursuers. What remains is their literary and artistic output. Between them they created Mary Poppins, one of the most beloved and enduring characters in children's literature. It is that collaboration which interests us here. |
Keywords | Artistic Collaboration, Authors, Biographical writing, Children's books, Children's literature, Illustration, Illustrators, Mary Poppins, Mary Shepard, Mythology, P.L. Travers, |
Contains Sensitive Content | Does not contain sensitive content |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 470506. Children's literature |
3606. Visual arts | |
430303. Biography | |
Public Notes | Files associated with this item cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions. |
Byline Affiliations | School of Education |
https://research.usq.edu.au/item/z3w0y/creating-mary-poppins-exploring-the-dynamics-of-the-artistic-collaboration-between-the-illustrator-mary-shepard-and-the-writer-p-l-travers
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