The family in English children's literature

Alston, Ann

Abstract

This text examines the idea of the family in children's literature from a largely historical perspective. Using 1818 as a starting point and ending with a consideration of contemporary works, it analyses a variety of texts, and contends that, despite the social and other changes that occurred during this period, the ideological construction of the family and its functions remain fundamentally unaltered. Representations in the family have not, the text argues, undergone the revolution that social change might suggest. Divided into two parts the first section of the text locates primary texts in their historical context and confronts the cultural and textual construction of the family. The second section considers themes more specific to family, for exmaple, it focuses on the family home, the spaces within it and the food the families share. What emerges from the study are not so much the contrasts that exist between the periods, but rather the startling similarities of the ideology of family intrinsic to children's literature. Overall, The Family in English Children's Literature works from the general to the particular in order to reveal the pressence, continuity and importance of th ideology of family in children's literature from 1818 to 2003.

• Book Type: Authored Book
• Publication Date: Apr 3, 2008
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Series Title: Children's Literature and Culture
• ISBN: 978-0-415-98885-8
• Keywords: children's literature, family, home, food, spaces, ideology, history
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1013519
• Publisher URL: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415988858/