The document discusses the history of children's literature in Western civilization and how ideas of childhood have evolved over time. It explains that concepts of childhood are socially constructed and shaped by dominant cultural ideals. Children's books from different eras reflected prevailing views of childhood, such as children being born sinful, the mind as a blank slate to fill, or children being naturally innocent. The Golden Age of children's literature in the 19th century presented the home and family as a haven. More recent decades saw a shift to books addressing harsh realities of life. The roots and evolution of modern childhood from the 17th century onward are also outlined.
** Disclaimer:
All of the pictures and pieces of information on this site are the property of the respective owners. I do not hold any copyright in regards to these pictures and information. These pictures have been collected from different public sources including various websites, considered to be in the public domain. If anyone has any objection to display of any picture, image or information, it may be brought to my notice by sending an email (contact me) & the disputed media will be removed immediately, after verification of the claim.
** Disclaimer:
All of the pictures and pieces of information on this site are the property of the respective owners. I do not hold any copyright in regards to these pictures and information. These pictures have been collected from different public sources including various websites, considered to be in the public domain. If anyone has any objection to display of any picture, image or information, it may be brought to my notice by sending an email (contact me) & the disputed media will be removed immediately, after verification of the claim.
„What is Adolescent Literature?‟- A question rarely contentious in discussion among the scholars, critics, theorists and intellectuals of literature. Is it written for the implied readers, for general readers or is it the mode of narration, characters, language or any other intertexuality that marks it as an „Adolescent Literature‟? Considering a few decades of literary tropes and criticism, one can understand, how it had been a major issue of critical discourse on the development of Queer Theory, Feminism, Structuralism and post-structuralism to attain the present status. The terms „Children‟s Literature‟ and „Adolescent Literature‟ are interchangeably used by most of the writers. Then- should we understand „Children‟s Literature‟ is also about adolescent or „Adolescent Literature‟ itself implies the literature for „children‟? Significantly, no literary texts are categorized as „Infants‟ Literature‟, „Children‟s Literature‟ „Young Adult or Adolescent literature‟, „Adult Literature‟ or „Old-Age Literature‟. British critic John Rowe Townsend raises somewhat similar problematic question, - “Surely Robinson Crusoe was not written for children, and do not the Alice books appeal at least as much to grown-ups?; if Tom Sawyer is Children‟s Literature, what about Huckleberry Finn?; if the Jungle Books are Children‟s Literature, what about Kim or Stalky? And if The Wind in the Willows is Children‟s Literature, what about The Golden Age? And so on.” The implication of Townsend‟s argument is that no literature can be categorized based on any stage of human development. The prevailing trends to study such texts as either Bildungsroman or Entwicklungsroman are replaced in the post war practices. Of late, psychological study of human development after Sigmund Freud and G. S. Hall has aroused skeptical voices against the conventional study of the texts. Nevertheless, the publication of The Catcher in the Rye marks a new beginning in this strand of writing fictions. The production of Rushdie‟s Midnight‟s Children started as seminal text. Today, psychoanalysis, polyphony, heteroglossia, sexuality and power are some popular and dominating mode of studying such fluid literary texts.
Diasporic expression of salman rushdie ( post.colo)Niyati Pathak
This presentation is a part of my academic activity i...
I'm dying my masters in English literature in India ..
Where I have post colonial literature paper were i presented what is the how salman Rushdie define diaspora in his works .... and it's some of the information........so have a look at the slides ... Presentation and evaluate .. give me comments and marks so that I can improve more
For evaluation click the link ...
http://dilipbarad.blogspot.in/2015/10/rubric-for-evaluation-of-oral.html
.Thanks for visiting
Science and Literature Essay
Essay on Romanticism In Literature
Colonial American Literature
What Is Literature Essay
Early American Literature Essay
Benefits Of Childrens Literature
Literature for Use in Classroom Essay
„What is Adolescent Literature?‟- A question rarely contentious in discussion among the scholars, critics, theorists and intellectuals of literature. Is it written for the implied readers, for general readers or is it the mode of narration, characters, language or any other intertexuality that marks it as an „Adolescent Literature‟? Considering a few decades of literary tropes and criticism, one can understand, how it had been a major issue of critical discourse on the development of Queer Theory, Feminism, Structuralism and post-structuralism to attain the present status. The terms „Children‟s Literature‟ and „Adolescent Literature‟ are interchangeably used by most of the writers. Then- should we understand „Children‟s Literature‟ is also about adolescent or „Adolescent Literature‟ itself implies the literature for „children‟? Significantly, no literary texts are categorized as „Infants‟ Literature‟, „Children‟s Literature‟ „Young Adult or Adolescent literature‟, „Adult Literature‟ or „Old-Age Literature‟. British critic John Rowe Townsend raises somewhat similar problematic question, - “Surely Robinson Crusoe was not written for children, and do not the Alice books appeal at least as much to grown-ups?; if Tom Sawyer is Children‟s Literature, what about Huckleberry Finn?; if the Jungle Books are Children‟s Literature, what about Kim or Stalky? And if The Wind in the Willows is Children‟s Literature, what about The Golden Age? And so on.” The implication of Townsend‟s argument is that no literature can be categorized based on any stage of human development. The prevailing trends to study such texts as either Bildungsroman or Entwicklungsroman are replaced in the post war practices. Of late, psychological study of human development after Sigmund Freud and G. S. Hall has aroused skeptical voices against the conventional study of the texts. Nevertheless, the publication of The Catcher in the Rye marks a new beginning in this strand of writing fictions. The production of Rushdie‟s Midnight‟s Children started as seminal text. Today, psychoanalysis, polyphony, heteroglossia, sexuality and power are some popular and dominating mode of studying such fluid literary texts.
Diasporic expression of salman rushdie ( post.colo)Niyati Pathak
This presentation is a part of my academic activity i...
I'm dying my masters in English literature in India ..
Where I have post colonial literature paper were i presented what is the how salman Rushdie define diaspora in his works .... and it's some of the information........so have a look at the slides ... Presentation and evaluate .. give me comments and marks so that I can improve more
For evaluation click the link ...
http://dilipbarad.blogspot.in/2015/10/rubric-for-evaluation-of-oral.html
.Thanks for visiting
Science and Literature Essay
Essay on Romanticism In Literature
Colonial American Literature
What Is Literature Essay
Early American Literature Essay
Benefits Of Childrens Literature
Literature for Use in Classroom Essay
1. Constructing Childhood:
A Brief History of
Early Children’s
Literature in Western
Civilization
2. What is “children’s literature?”
What is “childhood?”
Meaning of “childhood” is
ideological—socially constructed,
constantly evolving
Books “for children” reflect
dominant cultural ideals
Reinforce ideas about behavior,
morality, gender roles, class
structure, etc.—shape reader
Reflect ideological lens of writer,
culture—not created in vacuum
Image: Rosemary Adcock, “Orphan Series”
3. Analyze children’s literature in order to . . .
Uncover culture’s ideal views
of “childhood”
Examine society’s concept of
self
Interrogate individual author’s
relationship to broader
cultural contexts
Viewed across time, provides
insight into our own concepts
of childhood and “normalcy”
Image: Arthur B. Houghton, Mother and Children Reading, 1860
4. The “Golden Age” of
Children’s Literature
Ideology of the nuclear family takes
shape in early 19th century
Home & family as haven in heartless
world
Source of stability in increasingly
materialistic, fractious world
Powerful “cult of childhood”—child as
icon of “lost” innocence, emblematic of
past golden age of humanity
Tensions: hierarchies, gender, class,
race, literary marketplace
5. What did “childhood” mean?
Historical Highlights
400 years ago: children born in state of sin ;
childhood reading about religious guidance,
indoctrination
250-300 years ago: “invention of childhood” as
modern concept; children’s minds “a blank slate”—fill
with proper information—logical, didactic texts
200 years ago: children naturally innocent; moral
compass to society—imaginative texts
40 years ago: children need to read about harsh
realities of life
6. Protestantism & Roots of “Modern
Childhood” (17th & early 18th centuries)
Ideal of universal literacy;
importance of print culture
Children products of original sin;
prepare for adult religious
experience
Instructional books, conduct books
Primers: teach reading, but also turn
innately sinful children into spiritual
beings
Themes of death, damnation,
conversion
Image: From New England Primer, circa 1690
7. A little light bedtime reading . . .
Popular reading for
Protestant children: Book
of Martyrs (1563); The Day
of Doom (1662)
Anti-Catholic account of
“Bloody Mary” reign
Poem of damnation of
world
Horrific scenes of violence,
mutilation, murder
Images: Thomas Foxe, Book of Martyrs, 1563; Michael
Wigglesworth, The Day of Doom, 1662
8. The Enlightenment (late 17th, 18th centuries):
Enter Modern Childhood
John Locke (1632-1704)
Some Thoughts Concerning
Education (1693)
Young mind as tabula rasa (blank
slate)
Children not burdened by original sin
Logical beings awaiting proper
education—rational writings
Whole new construction of childhood
—distinct phase of life
Image: John Locke
9. 18th Century Groundbreakers
John Newbery
Bookseller/publisher
Little Pretty Pocket Book
(1744) — first significant
story book specifically for
children
Songs, poems, moral
tales, illustrations
Instruct AND entertain
Image: John Newbery, Little Pretty Pocket Book, 1744
10. 18th Century Groundbreakers
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Emile (1755)—Children
should be raised in natural
settings, free to imagine
Children naturally innocent,
moral – “The child is the father
of the man” (Wordsworth)
Books should free children’s
imaginations
Romantics influence writers of
Golden Age
Image: Jean-Jacques Rousseau