A Brief History of Children’s Literature from the 15th to the 21st Century: Some Important Dates, Writers, Texts, and Themes/Issues

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Oral Tradition: Before PrintOral Tradition: Before Print

Consists of various major genres: Folktales, Myths, Legends, Epics,

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Oral Tradition

General Features of the Oral traditionGeneral Features of the Oral tradition

Designed to be heard not readDesigned to be heard not read

Designed to be memorized and passed on orally, not Designed to be memorized and passed on orally, not through printed texts/editionsthrough printed texts/editions

Authors generally unknown/ambiguousAuthors generally unknown/ambiguous

Often violent, concerned with good versus evilOften violent, concerned with good versus evil

Hero/Heroine is marked in some wayHero/Heroine is marked in some way

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Late 15Late 15thth Century: After Century: After PrintPrint

1484. Aesop’s Fables printed by W Caxton on Gutenberg’s printing press

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17th Century

1658. Jon Amos Comenius’s Orbis Sensualium Pictus ( The Visible World). First picture book whose introduction and content is designed to entertain and instruct bored school children.

1678. John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress

1693. John Locke’s Thoughts Concerning Education

1697. Charles Perrault’s Tales of Mother Goose

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18th Century

Adventure StoryAdventure Story

1719. Daniel Defoe’s 1719. Daniel Defoe’s Robinson CrusoeRobinson Crusoe. . Robinsonnade.Robinsonnade.

1726. Swift’s 1726. Swift’s Gulliver’s TravelsGulliver’s Travels

Rise of the Middle ClassesRise of the Middle Classes

1744. Newbery’s 1744. Newbery’s A Little Pretty Pocket A Little Pretty Pocket Book. (Medal/ Book. (Medal/ Modern Child Lit).Modern Child Lit).

17891789. Romanticism . Romanticism and William Blakeand William Blake

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19th Century

Victorian/Golden Age of Child LitVictorian/Golden Age of Child Lit..

FolktalesFolktales. 1812. Grimm Brothers. . 1812. Grimm Brothers. Household and Household and Nursery TalesNursery Tales. Trans into English. 1823. HCA’s . Trans into English. 1823. HCA’s The The Little Mermaid Little Mermaid in 1846. Collodi’s in 1846. Collodi’s PinocchioPinocchio in 1883. in 1883.

FantasyFantasy. 1865. Carroll/Dodgson/Alice . 1865. Carroll/Dodgson/Alice

Adventures stories Adventures stories continued with Robert continued with Robert Stevenson’s Stevenson’s Treasure Island Treasure Island 18831883

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19th Century

Domestic Stories– L. M. Alcott’s Little Women. 1868. – Susan Coolidge’s What Katy Did. 1872

Animal Stories– Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty. 1877– R Kipling’s The Jungle Books.

Picture Books– R. Caldecott, K Greenaway, E Evans, Walter Crane

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2020thth Century: From Alice to Century: From Alice to ModernismModernism

• 1900. Frank Baum. The Wizard of Oz1900. Frank Baum. The Wizard of Oz

• 1908. Kenneth Grahame. Wind in the Willows1908. Kenneth Grahame. Wind in the Willows

• 1911. J.M Barrie. PeterWendy, FHBurnett’s Secret Garden1911. J.M Barrie. PeterWendy, FHBurnett’s Secret Garden

• 1926. A A Milne. Winnie the Pooh1926. A A Milne. Winnie the Pooh

• 1927. Eleanor Porter. Pollyanna1927. Eleanor Porter. Pollyanna

• 1932. L I Wilder. The Little House1932. L I Wilder. The Little House

• 1934. P Travers. Mary Poppins1934. P Travers. Mary Poppins

• 1937. Seuss. And To Think/Mulberry St1937. Seuss. And To Think/Mulberry St

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20th Century: 1950s & the Politics of Children’s Literature U.K:

– C.S.Lewis and Narnia Narnia as Religious Allegory

– See Bunyan (PP), Spielberg (LBT), & Pullman (GC)

– William Golding and Lord of the Flies Lord/Flies as Political Allegory

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20th Century: 1950s and the Politics of Children’s

Literature • USA:

• E. B White– Charlotte’s Web– Stuart Little

• Elizabeth Speare– The Witch of Blackbird Pond– Macarthyism and Witch Hunts

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20th Century: Realism

1950s/60/70s. New Realism in Child Literature– J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye– Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird– S E Hinton’s The Outsiders– Mildred Taylor’s Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry– Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are

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20th Century: 1950s/1960s Fantasy

• Lord of the Rings 1954– http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2001/06/04/tolkie

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Late 20/Early 21st Century

1990s. – J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books– Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, inc The Golden

Compass– Other:

Lemony Snickett Twilight Advent of Children’s Electronic Media

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Issues and Topics in Children’s Literature

Themes: Dualism, Good Versus Evil, Human and Nonhuman characters, Hero, Heroines

(Leit) Motif: Secret Spaces

History of Childhood

Images of the Child: Innocence, Blank Slate, Tabula Rasa, etc

Instruction/Entertainment: inform, amuse or both

Children’s Media Studies and Visual Literacy:

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Criticism

• Traditional Elements of Literature: plot, character,etc

• Feminist Theory: gender

• Myth/Archetypal criticism: hero’s journey

• Reader Response: contexts that effect reader’s

• Psychoanalytic Criticism: oedipal drama,

• Marxist criticism: social class, ideology,

• Postcoloniual Criticism

• Cultural/Media studies: film, television, video games,

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