Psychoanalytic Responses to Children's Literature

Lucy Rollin is professor emerita of English at Clemson University, where she taught children’s and young adult literature. She has written many books and essays on children’s literature and pop culture. Mark I. West is the former chair of the English department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He has written or edited nineteen books on children’s literature and culture and is a former president of the Children’s Literature Association.

“the absence of jargon and psychobabble and the tight focus of the essays make them eminently readable and enlightening. For all collections”—Choice; “Rollin and West pool their considerable expertise into a slim volume consisting of sixteen short essays...an excellent introduction...an essential text for one studying or teaching children’s literature or popular culture. ...this book would be of interest to women’s studies scholars. Clear, concise, and jargon-free, the writing is accessible even for undergraduates, yet the volume is substantive...the authors’ tone sets this work apart from others of its type”—Popular Culture Association.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgments      Preface      Introduction      1. Regression and the Fragmentation of the SelfJames and the Giant Peach—Mark I. West      2. The Mysterious and the Uncanny in Nancy Drew and Harriet the Spy—Lucy Rollin      3. Uncanny Mickey Mouse and His Domestication—Lucy Rollin      4. Narcissism in The Wind in the Willows—Mark I. West      5. The Reproduction of Mothering in Charlotte’s Web—Lucy Rollin      6. Pinocchio’s Journey from the Pleasure Principle to the Reality Principle—Mark I. West      7. Gazing and Mirroring in The Prince and the Pauper—Lucy Rollin      8. Childhood Fantasies and Frustrations in Maurice Sendak’s Picture Books—Lucy Rollin      9. The Grotesque and the Taboo in Roald Dahl’s Humorous Writings for Children—Mark I. West      10. Good-Enough Mother Hubbard—Lucy Rollin      11. Humpty Dumpty and the Anxieties of the Vulnerable Child—Lucy Rollin      12. Dream Imagery and the Portrayal of Childhood Anxieties in Nursery Rhyme Illustrations—Lucy Rollin      13. Repression and Rebellion in the Life and Works of Beatrix Potter—Mark I. West      14. Depictions of the Mother-Child Dyad in the Work of Mary Cassatt and Jessie Willcox Smith—Lucy Rollin      15. Guilt and Shame in Early American Children’s Literature—Mark I. West      16. The Psychological Roots of Anthony Comstock’s Campaign to Censor Dime Novels—Mark I. West      Bibliography of Psychoanalytic Interpretations of Children’s Literature      Index