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Children's Literature and British Identity

Imagining a People and a Nation
Authors:
Publisher:
 2012

Summary

For more than 250 years, English children’s literature has transmitted values to the next generation. The stories convey to children what they should identify with and aspire to, even as notions of “goodness” change over time. Through reading, children absorb an ethos of Englishness that grounds personal identity and underpins national consciousness. Such authors as Lewis Carroll, J. R. R. Tolkien, and J. K. Rowling have entertained, motivated, confronted social wrongs, and transmitted cultural mores in their works—functions previously associated with folklore. Their stories form a new folklore tradition that provides social glue and supports a love of England and English values.

In Children’s Literature and British Identity: Imagining a People and a Nation, Rebecca Knuth follows the development of the genre, focusing on how stories inspire children to adhere to the morals of society. This book examines how this tradition came to fruition, exploring the works of several authors, including:

Robert Baden-Powell

Robert Ballantyne

J. M. Barrie

Enid Blyton

Angela Brazil

Frances Hodgson Burnett

Randolph Caldecott

Lewis Carroll

Roald Dahl

Daniel Defoe

Charles Dickens

Maria Edgeworth

Kenneth Grahame

Kate Greenaway

G. A. Henty

Thomas Hughes

Charles Kingsley

Rudyard Kipling

C.S. Lewis

A. A. Milne

Hannah More

E. Nesbit

John Newbery

George Orwell

Beatrix Potter

Arthur Ransome

Frank Richards

J. K. Rowling

Anna Sewell

Robert Louis Stevenson

J. R. R. Tolkien

P. L. Travers

Sarah Trimmer

Charlotte Yonge

Evaluating the connection between children’s literature and the dissemination and formation of identity, this book will appeal to both general readers and academics who are interested in librarianship, English culture, and children’s literature.



Bibliographic data

Copyright year
2012
ISBN-Print
978-0-8108-8516-5
ISBN-Online
978-0-8108-8517-2
Publisher
Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language
English
Pages
209
Product type
Book Titles

Table of contents

ChapterPages
    1. Contents No access
    2. Preface No access
  1. Chapter One: Introduction No access Pages 1 - 14
  2. Chapter Two: Creating “Good” Children No access Pages 15 - 30
  3. Chapter Three: Socialization: Loyalty, Duty, and Self-Sacrifice No access Pages 31 - 48
  4. Chapter Four: Creating Manliness and the Boy Hero No access Pages 49 - 72
  5. Chapter Five: Romanticizing Childhood and England No access Pages 73 - 94
  6. Chapter Six: Being Playful and Emotionally Alive No access Pages 95 - 114
  7. Chapter Seven: Small Adventures and Happiness No access Pages 115 - 138
  8. Chapter Eight: Autonomy and Affirmation No access Pages 139 - 158
  9. Chapter Nine: Into the Story-Pot: Harry and Heroism No access Pages 159 - 176
  10. Chapter Ten: A Modern English Folklore No access Pages 177 - 192
  11. Bibliography No access Pages 193 - 200
  12. Index No access Pages 201 - 208
  13. About the Author No access Pages 209 - 209

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