Fantasy of Family

Nineteenth-Century Children's Literature and the Myth of the Domestic Ideal

AvElizabeth Thiel

Häftad, Engelska, 2011

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Beskrivning

The myth of the Victorian family remains a pervasive influence within a contemporary Britain that perceives itself to be in social crisis. Nostalgic for a golden age of "Victorian values" in which visions of supportive, united families predominate, the common consciousness, exhorted by social and political discourse, continues to vaunt the "traditional, natural" family as the template by which all other family forms are gauged. Yet this fantasy of family, nurtured and augmented throughout the Victorian era, was essentially a construct that belied the realities of a nineteenth-century world in which orphanhood, fostering, and stepfamilies were endemic.Focusing primarily on British children's texts written by women and drawing extensively on socio-historic material, The Fantasy of Family considers the paradoxes implicit to the perpetuation of the domestic ideal within the Victorian era and offers new perspectives on both nineteenth-century and contemporary society.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2011-07-12
Mått:152 x 229 x 12 mm
Vikt:400 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Serie:Children's Literature and Culture
Antal sidor:216
Förlag:Taylor & Francis Ltd
ISBN:9780415899376

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Mer om författaren

Liz Thiel is a lecturer in Children's Literature at Roehampton University. A former journalist, her research interests lie in both historical and contemporary texts for children. Forthcoming publications include a study of the life and works of Victorian writer 'Brenda'.

Recensioner i media

'Each of Thiel's analyses are thought-provoking and incisive... The Fantasy of Family is an important and original contribution to the field, as lucidly written as it is admirably researched.' - Bjorn Sundmark, IRSCL"While many of the texts discussed within this book might be unfamiliar, Elizabeth Thiel has brougth an important body of literature back to life." - Suzanna E. Henshon, Florida Gulf University, Children's Literature Association Quarterly (Fall 2009, Vol. 34 No. 3)

Innehållsförteckning

INTRODUCTION CHAPTER ONERedefining the Past CHAPTER TWO Snatched From "The Seed-plot" of Degeneracy: The "rescue" of the destitute child in tales of street arab lifeCHAPTER THREE Forever Cursed: Stepmothers, "otherness" and the reinscription of myth in transnormative family narrativesCHAPTER FOUR "Uncles are one thing…[but] aunts are always nasty!": Relational failures and the discourse of gender bias in foster family storiesCHAPTER FIVE Mother, Ally, Friend – or Foe? : The "dependable" female author as one of the familyCONCLUSION Into the Future: The enduring potency of the nineteenth-century domestic ideal APPENDIX LIST OF WORKS CITEDNOTESINDEX