Pangea

This exegesis explores the synergy and importance of two seemingly antithetical characteristics—plausibility and playfulness—in the creation of adventure spaces for young readers. I begin by defining my key terms; plausibility, playfulness, adventure, and dieselpunk. Particular emphasis is placed on the latter as it is the most contentious in terms of definition and it is the genre label that most accurately describes the style of the adventure in my accompanying creative work, Pangea and Almost Back. This is followed by a discussion of the importance of creating adventure spaces in general, and Pangea in particular, for my primary audience of upper ‘tween’ (Siegel et al. 4) to lower young adult readers. Ways of achieving plausibility and its importance in creating playful adventure spaces is then explored through an analysis of two classic antecedent adventure texts and two contemporary derivative texts, and reflections on the writing of my own creative work. Various examples from similar contemporary adventure novels are also cited where relevant. In Chapter 4, I focus on the characteristics of play and the implications of this for writers of adventure literature for young readers. I conclude by re-examining the relationship between plausibility and playfulness and reaffirm the value of literary adventure spaces for the emotional and intellectual development of young people.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, 2017