Description
Book SynopsisJane Suzanne Carroll is Ussher Assistant Professor in Children's Literature at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. She has published a monograph,
Landscape in Children's Literature (2012), as well as articles on Susan Cooper, Jules Verne, J.R.R. Tolkien, ghost stories, and children's fantasy.
Trade ReviewAn invaluable exploration of an aspect of children’s literature that is often overlooked, even though (or perhaps because) it lies in plain sight. * Modern Language Review *
Provides a fresh and insightful perspective on the dynamic and non-trivial relationships nineteenth-century children had with the material culture that often goes unnoticed as the mundane backdrops of their lives. * BAVS Newsletter *
This is a brilliantly fresh account of the relationship between children, children’s literature and consumer culture. In tracing the trajectory from Victorian books that enthusiastically teach children to be appreciative and discerning consumers to Edwardian works that show the relationship between children and the bought objects around them as fraught and sometimes frightening, Jane Suzanne Carroll takes in science, manufacturing, séances, magic and mysterious deaths. The writing is lively and often witty, making this as entertaining as it is informative. * Professor Kimberley Reynolds, School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics, Newcastle University, UK *
Table of ContentsIntroduction 'Devoured by a Desire to Possess': Children's literature, commodities and consumption Children's books as commodities and vehicles for consumerism Children's books and the creation of new products Reading objects Structure of this book
Chapter One Remarkable and perplexing items: Children and the Great Exhibition Learning to look Getting lost Guiding children Head, hand & heart The world of goods Conclusion
Chapter Two The wonders of common things: Worldly goods in the nineteenth century The history of the it-narrative Children's it-narratives The History of a Pin The Story of a Needle 'A China Cup' The wonders of common things Conclusion
Chapter Three A hailstorm of knitting needles: Otherworldly goods and domestic fantasy Commodity fetishism Spiritualism and fiction The rise of domestic fantasy
Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There Speaking likenesses The cuckoo clock Conclusion
Chapter Four ‘A Disgraceful State of Things’: Bad consumers and bad commodities Bad things and bad consumers in E. Nesbit's writing for children Bad things in Nesbit's work
The Enchanted Castle and the live thing Bad mice and crooked sixpences: Material deviance in Beatrix Potter's work The (mis)adventures of Mr Toad Conclusion
Conclusions Failed palaces and magic cities References
