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Children's Literature and British Identity: Imagining a People and a Nation
Author(s): Rebecca Knuth (Author)
- Publisher: Scarecrow Press
- Publication Date: 12 April 2012
- Language: English
- Print length: 222 pages
- ISBN-10: 0810885166
- ISBN-13: 9780810885165
Book Description
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.
Editorial Reviews
Review
This is an informative, readable survey of the best-known literary works in English written for children from the mid-18th century to the present. Throughout, Knuth (library and information science, Univ. of Hawai’i) engages the issue of nomenclature, noting the distinction between “Britishness” and “Englishness,” the latter term being more atmospheric, perhaps affectionate, and (despite the book’s title) more widely suggested by the works discussed. Major shifts in the depiction of childhood and youth are treated, especially as they shaped national character. One example is the impact of WW I on young men trained in the “ethos of prewar Englishness (the logical extension of Romantic patriotism was dying for England),” which boys absorbed through reading Victorian and Edwardian school and adventure stories that “set them up to serve as cannon fodder.” Especially useful is Knuth’s discussion of the development of picture books and their illustrators, in particular Walter Crane, Randolph Caldecott, and Kate Greenaway, who profoundly influenced public taste. Summing Up: Recommended. ― CHOICE
This valuable text deserves a place in large public and university libraries and on the departmental reference shelves of young adult literature and ethics curricula. ―
American Reference Books AnnualThe key to this book lies. . . in its structure. First and foremost, this is a potted history of British children’s literature, identifying the dominant concerns of each era, also managing to be thematic. . . . As a primer on the history of children’s literature, Knuth’s book does have its appeal – it is succinct and perceptive in its analysis of the chosen authors and books. . . . Knuth is seeking to identify the values and attitudes that have underpinned British children’s literature, and show how these changed over time, absorbing new ideas which reflected the evolving national consciousness. ―
Children’s Books History SocietyAbout the Author
Rebecca Knuth is professor of Library and Information Science at the University of Hawaii. She is an award-winning teacher and has taught children’s literature, young-adult literature, and history of the book courses for over 15 years.
