Teaching 19th century children's literature

[Michelle Smith]

Hi All,

It's been wonderful to have so many people join the group, to hear
about your research and teaching interests, and discover that there
are many people out there working in areas close to my own interests.
I hope it can be helpful to all of you over time too.

I'm now wondering whether any of you teach subjects that wholly or
partly comprise 19th-century texts for children. Which texts have you
included in your subject? How do the lesser known works fare in
comparison with the "classics" that students already know?

And, as a bonus question, if relevant, how did you get the subject off
the ground in the first place? Was there any challenge in bringing in
historical literature to a children's literature course or in
introducing children's literature to a traditional English department?

I ask because there is not much opportunity to teach in this area near
where I am located at the moment.

Best wishes,

Michelle

[Kathleen Chamberlain]

Greetings, all. My name is Kathleen Chamberlain, and I teach English and Women's Studies at Emory & Henry College in Virginia. I was so pleased to see the announcement of this group on the Child_Lit list. I love Child_Lit, but 19th century child_lit doesn't seem to come up there very often.

For years now, I've been working on an opus about American girls' school stories from 1800-1940. They're my main interest, but I also love girls' domestic fiction from the 19th century and girls' mystery and other series from the early 20th. Currently, I'm drafting an article about author Louisa C. Tuthill (1798-1879).

I'm looking forward to the group's discussions.

Kathleen

[Elisabeth Gruner]

I think I've had a different experience than some of you in teaching 19th-century children's literature, perhaps because I was hired as a Victorianist, not a children's lit specialist.  While it's been difficult to get my colleagues to take my work on children's lit seriously (another story entirely!), no one has ever resisted my upper-division courses on Victorian fantasy (which includes works for both children & adults), on the idea of the child in 19th-century literature (ditto), or my Victorian lit courses including, say, Alice in Wonderland.  In my introduction to children's lit, which is for non-majors, I do teach primarily contemporary stuff, but I always include at the very least the Alice books, Peter Pan, and usually The Secret Garden or A Little Princess.  

I'm teaching The Water-Babies and The Princess and the Goblin in my Victorian fantasy class this semester (along with the Alice books, Peter Pan, and a variety of gothic and gothic-inspired literature like Frankenstein and Dracula).  I'll also teach Mopsa the Fairy and some shorter pieces by Molesworth, Nesbit, Wilde, and Grahame.  I've never taught The Water-Babies before, but in a previous iteration without it the course went very well, and I'm expecting students to respond well to it this time around given their general interest in the subject. ( I somehow enticed quite a few "Twilight" fans, among others, into this class, and they are really looking forward to Dracula!)

As for professional conferences, the 18th & 19th century British Women Writers Conference has always been very open to papers and panels on 18th and 19th century children's literature.  The catch is that it must be by women to pass muster with the vetting board--though even then, I believe that Catherine Robson presented a portion of Men in Wonderland at the BWWC when that book was in progress.  But there have always been papers on, say, Sarah Trimmer or Maria Edgeworth or Molesworth or Ewing there, among many others.

Cheers,

Libby

Elisabeth Rose Gruner

elisabet...@gmail.com

[Kelly Searsmith, Ph.D.]

My experiences with teaching children’s literature AS Victorian
literature have also been quite successful. There the historicist
orientation is assumed, and students often take the course already
liking the period. The children’s texts are easier going—shorter,
less elaborate in style—and so provide a welcome relief to the longer
works. They can help break up a syllabus nicely. Short children’s
texts are also very useful for demonstrating in period and
introductory skills classes the techniques of literary interpretation
that rely on cultural studies approaches, since so much can be mind
from what is usually taken as popular from the outset. The more
famous ones, like the Alice books, can be read against modern
versions / interpretations, and so raise discussion about shifts in
cultural expectations, especially helping students to interrogate the
social construction of the child and its raced, classed, national, and
gendered dimensions.

I have not been challenged, myself, about the importance of
researching children’s literature or fantasy texts within a period
context. I did once attempt to teach a course using Tolkien’s
_Fellowship of the Ring_ (which is considered an adolescent text by
some, or at least in combination with adult) – my independent graduate
proposal was declined because the text was assumed to be too shallow
for a week’s instruction. I think scholars these days are much more
aware and far less stilted about the possibilities such texts afford
in classroom and research use.

I am wondering, myself, if it is common for period teachers of
children’s literature to focus mainly on the fantastic, rather than
the full range of offerings during the period, many of which are far
more conservative. I am guilty of this charge myself (although I
discuss them in research). If people do go outside this program, what
have they taught and with what approaches / success?

____________________

Kelly Searsmith, Ph.D.

searsmith@yahoo..com

Independent Scholar



Dream Tree, a discussion of

science and culture with a historical

emphasis: kellysearsmith.livejournal.com



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[Helen Schinske]

I've never taught any class, so take this with a grain of salt, but I think
it would be interesting to take one of the authors who's known for both
fantastic and realistic works, like Mrs. Molesworth or Mrs. Ewing, and teach
two of their stories side by side, one from each genre.

Helen Schinske

[Kelly Searsmith, Ph.D.]

Helen,

It's so good to see you here! I think this is a wonderful idea -- it
might also provide a good basis for an exploratory article :).

Kelly