Co-Editor (with Karin Westman and David Russell) of _The Lion and the Unicorn_. Address: Dept. of English, Kansas State University
E/CS Building 108, Manhattan KS, 66506
Children's literature, almost from its inception, has been deeply invested in drawin... more Children's literature, almost from its inception, has been deeply invested in drawing connections between humans and the natural world, as the recent issue on "Ecology and the Child" of Children's Literature Association Quarterly (1994-95) demonstrates. The Water-Babies is a [End ...
Teaching children's literature to elementary education majors at my state university... more Teaching children's literature to elementary education majors at my state university, I inevitably encounter Walt Disney's legacy. After dutifully reading the variants of "Cinderella" by Perrault and the Grimms, my students will often politely tell me that these new versions are all very ...
Gray, William, 1952-Fantasy, myth and the measure of truth: tales of Pullman, Lewis, Tolkien, Mac... more Gray, William, 1952-Fantasy, myth and the measure of truth: tales of Pullman, Lewis, Tolkien, MacDonald and Hoffmann. ... Gray, William, 1952-Death and fantasy: essays on Philip Pullman, CS Lewis, George MacDonald and RL Stevenson. ... Fantasy, Myth and the ...
... PAGES (INTRO/BODY): xiii, 172 p. SUBJECT(S): Great Britain; History; Victoria, 1837-1901; Eng... more ... PAGES (INTRO/BODY): xiii, 172 p. SUBJECT(S): Great Britain; History; Victoria, 1837-1901; English fiction; Domestic fiction, English; Family; Family in literature; History and criticism; 19th century. DISCIPLINE: No discipline assigned. LC NUMBER: PR878.D65 K36 1995. HTTP: ...
As the Victorians engaged in complex discussions about the nature and proper nurture of children,... more As the Victorians engaged in complex discussions about the nature and proper nurture of children, their literary works for and about children can be seen to divide themselves based on conflicting constructions of the child. Some writers figured children idealistically as superior to adults, as angels on earth sent by heaven to be models of innocence and purity, untouched by the fall into adulthood. Other writers figured children as primitive pre-humans who needed to be moulded through education and experience into beings acceptable to, and accepting of, society’s norms of gender and class expectations. The tensions between these constructions of the child produced richly imagined fantastic texts, on the one hand, and starkly observed realistic texts, on the other. This essay traces the divided stream of children’s literature of the Victorian period and posits that the period’s most famous child, Alice (Alice in Wonderland 1865), is a synthesis of these idealizing and realistic constructions — she is simultaneously imaginative yet mundane, attuned to the world of wonder yet convincingly real. Lewis Carroll’s synthesis did not resolve the dichotomous constructions of the child and childhood but locates the conflict in the realms of language and power. By making nonsense of the abstract and reductive categories through which children were defined, Carroll’s work celebrates and problematizes the Victorian cult of childhood.
Children's literature, almost from its inception, has been deeply invested in drawin... more Children's literature, almost from its inception, has been deeply invested in drawing connections between humans and the natural world, as the recent issue on "Ecology and the Child" of Children's Literature Association Quarterly (1994-95) demonstrates. The Water-Babies is a [End ...
Teaching children's literature to elementary education majors at my state university... more Teaching children's literature to elementary education majors at my state university, I inevitably encounter Walt Disney's legacy. After dutifully reading the variants of "Cinderella" by Perrault and the Grimms, my students will often politely tell me that these new versions are all very ...
Gray, William, 1952-Fantasy, myth and the measure of truth: tales of Pullman, Lewis, Tolkien, Mac... more Gray, William, 1952-Fantasy, myth and the measure of truth: tales of Pullman, Lewis, Tolkien, MacDonald and Hoffmann. ... Gray, William, 1952-Death and fantasy: essays on Philip Pullman, CS Lewis, George MacDonald and RL Stevenson. ... Fantasy, Myth and the ...
... PAGES (INTRO/BODY): xiii, 172 p. SUBJECT(S): Great Britain; History; Victoria, 1837-1901; Eng... more ... PAGES (INTRO/BODY): xiii, 172 p. SUBJECT(S): Great Britain; History; Victoria, 1837-1901; English fiction; Domestic fiction, English; Family; Family in literature; History and criticism; 19th century. DISCIPLINE: No discipline assigned. LC NUMBER: PR878.D65 K36 1995. HTTP: ...
As the Victorians engaged in complex discussions about the nature and proper nurture of children,... more As the Victorians engaged in complex discussions about the nature and proper nurture of children, their literary works for and about children can be seen to divide themselves based on conflicting constructions of the child. Some writers figured children idealistically as superior to adults, as angels on earth sent by heaven to be models of innocence and purity, untouched by the fall into adulthood. Other writers figured children as primitive pre-humans who needed to be moulded through education and experience into beings acceptable to, and accepting of, society’s norms of gender and class expectations. The tensions between these constructions of the child produced richly imagined fantastic texts, on the one hand, and starkly observed realistic texts, on the other. This essay traces the divided stream of children’s literature of the Victorian period and posits that the period’s most famous child, Alice (Alice in Wonderland 1865), is a synthesis of these idealizing and realistic constructions — she is simultaneously imaginative yet mundane, attuned to the world of wonder yet convincingly real. Lewis Carroll’s synthesis did not resolve the dichotomous constructions of the child and childhood but locates the conflict in the realms of language and power. By making nonsense of the abstract and reductive categories through which children were defined, Carroll’s work celebrates and problematizes the Victorian cult of childhood.
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