The Fantasy of Family: Nineteenth-Century Children's Literature and the Myth of the Domestic Ideal (Children's Literature and Culture) - Softcover

Thiel, Elizabeth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415899370 ISBN 13: 9780415899376

Publisher: Routledge, 2011

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Review:

'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

About the Author:

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'.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0415899370
• ISBN 13: 9780415899376
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 216