
Kiddie Lit
The Cultural Construction of Children's Literature in America
Beverly Lyon Clark(Author)
Johns Hopkins University Press
Published on 27. February 2005
Book
Paperback/Softback
280 pages
978-0-8018-8170-1 (ISBN)
Description
The popularity of the Harry Potter books among adults and the critical acclaim these young adult fantasies have received may seem like a novel literary phenomenon. In the nineteenth century, however, readers considered both Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn as works of literature equally for children and adults; only later was the former relegated to the category of "boys' books" while the latter, even as it was canonized, came frequently to be regarded as unsuitable for young readers. Adults-women and men-wept over Little Women. And America's most prestigious literary journals regularly reviewed books written for both children and their parents. This egalitarian approach to children's literature changed with the emergence of literary studies as a scholarly discipline at the turn of the twentieth century. Academics considered children's books an inferior literature and beneath serious consideration. In Kiddie Lit, Beverly Lyon Clark explores the marginalization of children's literature in America-and its recent possible reintegration-both within the academy and by the mainstream critical establishment.
Tracing the reception of works by Mark Twain, Louisa May Alcott, Lewis Carroll, Frances Hodgson Burnett, L. Frank Baum, Walt Disney, and J. K. Rowling, Clark reveals fundamental shifts in the assessment of the literary worth of books beloved by both children and adults, whether written for boys or girls. While uncovering the institutional underpinnings of this transition, Clark also attributes it to changing American attitudes toward childhood itself, a cultural resistance to the intrinsic value of childhood expressed through sentimentality, condescension, and moralizing. Clark's engaging and enlightening study of the critical disregard for children's books since the end of the nineteenth century-which draws on recent scholarship in gender, cultural, and literary studies- offers provocative new insights into the history of both children's literature and American literature in general, and forcefully argues that the books our children read and love demand greater respect.
Tracing the reception of works by Mark Twain, Louisa May Alcott, Lewis Carroll, Frances Hodgson Burnett, L. Frank Baum, Walt Disney, and J. K. Rowling, Clark reveals fundamental shifts in the assessment of the literary worth of books beloved by both children and adults, whether written for boys or girls. While uncovering the institutional underpinnings of this transition, Clark also attributes it to changing American attitudes toward childhood itself, a cultural resistance to the intrinsic value of childhood expressed through sentimentality, condescension, and moralizing. Clark's engaging and enlightening study of the critical disregard for children's books since the end of the nineteenth century-which draws on recent scholarship in gender, cultural, and literary studies- offers provocative new insights into the history of both children's literature and American literature in general, and forcefully argues that the books our children read and love demand greater respect.
Reviews / Votes
This exemplary contribution to children's literature studies engages both general readers-those interested in Little Women or Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Wizard of Oz, Lewis Carroll, Huck Finn, even J. K. Rowling and Walt Disney-and children's literature specialists. -- Cathryn M. Mercier Horn Book Magazine 2004 This engaging book is particularly absorbing in light of the current adult fascination with the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings titles... Highly recommended. Choice 2004 Terrific and important... Clark tracks the various moves by which 'Kiddie Lit' has been diminished and kept in its place, and she does this by tracing the historical reception of a half dozen or so representative works... A 'must read' for scholars in children's literature. Children's Literature Association Quarterly 2004 [Clark's] thorough documentation of the vagaries of the reception of 'kiddie lit' proves that our negative valuations of youth culture deserve rethinking. -- Ilana Nash Women's Review of Books 2004 Offers a convincing plea for taking kiddie lit seriously, and for accepting the imaginative delight and serious literary pleasures such literature can offer. -- Michael Newton Times Literary Supplement 2005More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Baltimore, MD
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
8 s/w Photographien bzw. Rasterbilder
8 Halftones, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 226 mm
Width: 151 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
381 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8018-8170-1 (9780801881701)
DOI
10.56021/9780801869006
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
08/2003
Johns Hopkins University Press
€58.38
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Person
Beverly Lyon Clark is the A. Howard Meneely Professor of English at Wheaton College and coeditor (with Margaret Higonnet) of Girls, Boys, Books, Toys: Gender in Children's Literature and Culture, also available from Johns Hopkins.
Content
Contents: 1. Kids and Kiddie Lit 2. What Fauntleroy Knew 3. Kiddie Lit in the Academy 4. The Case of the Boy's Book: Whitewashing Huck 5. The Case of the Girl's Book: Jo's Girls 6. The Case of American Fantasy: There's No Place Like Oz 7. The Case of British Fantasy Imports: Alice and Harry in America 8. The Case of the Disney Version