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Constructing Childhood: The History of
Early Children’s Literature and the Place
of Fairy Tales
English 507
Dr. Karen Roggenkamp
Image: Orbis Sensualium PictureFacsimile of 1672 English Edition
What is “children’s literature?” What is “childhood?”
Meaning of “childhood” is ideological—socially constructed, constantly evolving
Books “for children” reflect dominant cultural ideals
Reinforce ideas about behavior, morality, gender roles, class structure, etc.—shape reader
Reflect ideological lens of writer, culture—not created in vacuum
Image: Rosemary Adcock, “Orphan Series”
Analyze children’s literature in order to . . . Uncover culture’s ideal views
of “childhood” Examine society’s concept of
self Interrogate individual author’s
relationship to broader cultural contexts
Viewed across time, provides insight into our own concepts of childhood and “normalcy”
Image: Arthur B. Houghton, Mother and Children Reading, 1860
What did “childhood” mean? Key shifts:
“Augustinian” paradigm (17th Century, Puritans): Children innately corrupt, sinful; animalistic nature (self will) must be constrained; spiritual objectives; instruction through punishment
“Educationalist” paradigm (18th century; Locke): Children’s minds offer a blank slate (tabula rasa) on which to write; neither good nor evil by nature; intellectual and moral objectives; instruction through logic and reason; literature “to instruct and delight”
“Natural Educationalist” paradigm (18th-19th centuries; Rouseau): Children innately pure, wise; “childlikeness” (self will) must be developed and protected from corrupting social institutions; emotional and moral objectives; instruction through non-directive means
40 years ago: children need to read about harsh realities of life
“Children’s Lit” in Ancient World (roughly 50 BCE / BC - 500 CE / AD)
Oral tales – heard, not read Hybrid audience—children and
adults alike Aesop’s Fables—animal tales
with pointed morals—not just for children
Guide/shape citizenry; entertain
Image: John Ogilby, The Fables of Aesop, 1673-75
Middle Ages(500 – 1500)
Low literacy—class-based Childhood generally ignored—
short and not so sweet “Little adults”—cf. portraiture Medieval epics, romances,
histories for adults also held children’s interest (e.g. Beowulf, King Arthur, Robin Hood, lives of saints, historical legends, etc.)
Medieval Fables(500 – 1500)
Mingle “reality” with magic, fantasy, enchantment; animal characters
Literature rich with “childlike” elements (wonder, mystery, fantasy, etc.)
Gesta Romanorum (Deeds of the Romans), late 13th century: moral tales; animal tales; familiar story plots for centuries to come (Boccaccio, Chaucer, Shakespeare)
Image: Early Manuscript, Gesta Romanorum
European Renaissance(1500 – 1650)
Printing Press (mid 15th century): Print books in quantity—reduce
time, labor, cost Increased literacy, promoted
education, disseminated knowledge and practice of reading
Eventually change nature of childhood, children’s literature, and fairy tales
Image: Replica of early Gutenberg press
Bad Boys and Girls: Protestantism, 17th-century
Puritans, & Roots of “Modern Childhood”
Ideal of universal literacy Children products of original sin;
prepare for adult religious experience Instructional books, conduct books Primers: teach reading, but also turn
innately sinful children into spiritual beings
Themes of death, damnation, conversion
Image: From New England Primer, circa 1690
A little light bedtime reading . . .
Popular reading for Protestant children:
Book of Martyrs (1563), Anti-Catholic account of “Bloody Mary”
The Day of Doom (1662), poem of damnation of world
Images: Thomas Foxe, Book of Martyrs, 1563; Michael Wigglesworth, The Day of Doom, 1662
Children can be Reasonable, too: The Enlightenment (late 17th, 18th centuries):
John Locke (1632-1704) Some Thoughts Concerning
Education (1693) Young mind as tabula rasa (blank
slate) Children not burdened by original sin Logical beings awaiting proper
education—rational writings Whole new construction of childhood
—distinct phase of life Image: John Locke
Romanticism (late 18th, early 19th centuries): Enter Innocence
Jean-Jacques Rousseau Emile (1755)—Children
should be raised in natural settings, free to imagine
Children naturally innocent, moral – “The child is the father of the man” (Wordsworth)
Books should free children’s imaginations
Romantics influence writers of Golden Age
Image: Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Folktales, Fairy Tales, and the New Child Complicated role of “fairy tales” in literary
history of 18th, 19th centuries Romantic interest in folktales—collect
“authentic” culture But Enlightenment thinkers disapprove—
folk culture too “childlike” and fantastic “Fairy tales” eventually deemed appropriate
only for children and “the folk” (peasant, “simple,” lower class)
More educated could be intellectually interested in folk culture and the LITERARY tale
Key Figures of Literary Fairy Tale
Charles Perrault (1628-1703) Tales from Times Past; or,
Tales of Mother Goose (1697)
Retellings & “literary” renderings of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, etc.
Some explicitly directed toward children
Image: Histoires ou Contes du temps passé avec des moralitez, 1697
Key Figures of Literary Fairy Tale
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm Nursery and Household Tales
(1812-1815) directed explicitly toward children
“Clean up” folktales; develop Perrault’s “literary” fairy tales
Rewrite to fit 19th-century sensibilities and ideas about morality, politics, social class, etc.
Image: Little Brother & Little Sister and Other Tales by the Brothers Grimm, illus. Arthur Rackham, 1917