Cover not available

In:Maps and Mapping in Children's Literature: Landscapes, seascapes and cityscapes
Edited by Nina Goga and Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer
[Children’s Literature, Culture, and Cognition 7] 2017
► pp. 95–111

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

Chapter 5
Mapping a city – Berlin in a contemporary detective novel

Published online: 14 August 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/clcc.7.06low
Abstract
In the novel Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kästner, published in 1929, the contemporary city of Berlin is set as an urban topos in which children navigate in an independent and self-confident way. Also more recent detective novels choose Berlin as the scene and make use of its cultural and geographical diversity. This chapter focuses on Andreas Steinhöfel’s Rico, Oskar und die Tieferschatten (2008) and examines which urban spaces in Berlin are presented, how the protagonist orients himself in the city, and what function the mapping has. The analysis focuses on how the psychological learning process of orientation in a city can be supported by children’s literature.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Place, space, and children’s literature
  • Overcoming obstacles
  • Rico follows in Emil’s footsteps
  • Rico’s home is his castle
  • Mastering the next step
  • Leaving the comfort zone
  • Mapping a city – Concluding remarks
  • Author queries
  • Notes
  • References
References (30)
References
Primary sources
Kästner, Erich. 1932. Emil und die Detektive. Berlin: Williams & Co (first published 1929).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2001. Emil and the Detectives, transl. Eileen Hall. London: Red Fox.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Steinhöfel, Andreas. 2008. Rico, Oskar und die Tieferschatten. Hamburg: Carlsen.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2009. Rico, Oskar und das Herzgebreche. Hamburg: Carlsen.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011a. Rico, Oskar und der Diebstahlstein. Hamburg: Carlsen.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011b. The Spaghetti Detectives. They’ve Got to Use Their Noodles!, transl. Chantal Wright. New York NY: Chicken House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Secondary sources
De Certeau, Michel. 1988. The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley CA: University of California Press (first published 1984).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Freeman, Claire & Tranter, Paul. 2011. Children and Their Urban Environment: Changing Worlds. London: Earthscan.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geissler, Cornelia. 2009. Ein Kind, das langsam denkt, ist nicht doof, Berliner Zeitung . Retrieved from <[URL]> (19 December 2015).
Goga, Nina. 2014. Kart og krim. Litterære kart og steders betydning i krimserier for barn. Tidskrift för Litteraturvetenskap 2: 69–82.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015. Kart i barnelitteraturen. Kristiansand: Portal.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Holzmann, Gabriela. 2006. Berlinlektionen für Kinder. Erich Kästners Emil und die Detektive zwischen Provinz und Metropole. In “Weltfabrik Berlin”. Eine Metropole als Sujet der Literatur. Studien zu Literatur und Landeskunde, Matthias Harder & Almut Hille (eds), 99–114. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kärrholm, Sara. 2011. Den hårdkokta deckaren. In Kriminallitteratur. Utveckling, genrer, perspektiv, by Kerstin Bergman & Sara Kärrholm, 88–104. Lund: Studentlitteratur.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kitchin, Rob & Freundschuh, Scott. 2000. Cognitive mapping. In Cognitive Mapping. Past, Present and Future, Rob Kitchin & Scott Freundschuh (eds), 1–8. New York NY: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Knight, Stephen. 2012. The Mysteries of the Cities. Urban Crime Fiction in the Nineteenth Century. Jefferson NC: McFarland.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Krämer, Sybille. 2015. Medium, Messenger, Transmission. An Approach to Media Philosophy. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kümmerling-Meibauer, Bettina. 2007. “…kommt nach Berlin und dreht gleich ’nen Film!”: Berlin in der Kinderliteratur der Weimarer Republik. In Berlin. Medien- und Kulturgeschichte einer Hauptstadt im 20. Jahrhundert, Matthias Bauer (ed.), 189–206. Tübingen: Francke.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kümmerling-Meibauer, Bettina & Meibauer, Jörg. 2015. Maps in picturebooks: Cognitive status and narrative functions. Nordic Journal of ChildLit Aesthetics 6. Retrieved from <> (1 December 2015).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liben, Lynn. 2009. The road to understanding maps. Current Directions in Psychological Science 18(6): 310–315. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Löw, Martina. 2001. Raumsoziologie. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Löwe, Corina. 2011. Von Jungen Pionieren und Gangstern. Der Kinder- und Jugendkriminalroman in der DDR (Young Pioneers and Gangsters: Detective Novels for Children and Young Adults in the GDR). PhD dissertation, Stockholm University. Stockholm: Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Magel, Eva-Maria. 2008. Eine Fundnudel für ganz Berlin. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Retrieved from <[URL]> (19 December 2015).
Menzel, Hilde. 2009. Empathie und Sprachwitz. Andreas Steinhöfel und die Nähe zu seinen Figuren. Rede aus Anlass der Verleihung des Erich Kästner Preises für Literatur an Andreas Steinhöfel. Retrieved from <[URL]> (19 December 2015).
O’Brien, Margaret, Jones, Deborah, Sloan, David & Rustin, Michael. 2000. Children’s independent spatial mobility in the urban public realm. Childhood: A Global Journal of Child Research 7(3): 257–277. Retrieved from <[URL]> (19 December 2015).
Ryan, Marie-Laure. 2003. Cognitive maps and the construction of narrative space. In Narrative Theory and the Cognitive Sciences, David Herman (ed.), 214–241. Stanford CA: CSLI Publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Taylor, Holly. 2000. A view of space through language. In Cognitive Mapping. Past, Present and Future, Rob Kitchin & Scott Freundschuh (eds), 179–196. New York NY: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tuan, Yi-Fu. 2001. Space and Place.The Perspective of Experience. Minneapolis MN: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Uttal, David & Tan, Lisa. 2000. Cognitive mapping in childhood. In Cognitive Mapping. Past, Present and Future, Rob Kitchin & Scott Freundschuh (eds), 147–165. New York NY: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wigbers, Melanie. 2006. Krimi-Orte im Wandel. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wischmann, Antje. 2003. Verdichtete Stadtwahrnehmung. Untersuchungen zum literarischen und urbanistischen Diskurs in Skandinavien 1955–1995. Berlin: BWV.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

ÇAĞLI KAYNAK, Elif
2022. Çocuklara Anlatılan İstanbul: İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi Çocuk Kitaplarının Analizi. Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi 23:2 ► pp. 190 ff. DOI logo
McLeod, Madison
2021. An Initial Foray into the Digital Mapping of London in Children's and Young Adult Literature. International Research in Children's Literature 14:1 ► pp. 67 ff. DOI logo
Mthatiwa, Syned
2018. Living in and Traversing Cities: Place and Identity in Irene Sabatini’s The Boy Next Door. Scrutiny2 23:1 ► pp. 60 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 7 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue