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BestsellerE-book
Author Goldthwaite, John.

Title The natural history of make-believe : a guide to the principal works of Britain, Europe, and America / John Goldthwaite.

Publication Info. New York : Oxford University Press, 1996.

Item Status

Description 1 online resource (viii, 386 pages)
Physical Medium polychrome
Description text file
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 361-370) and index.
Contents The world three inches tall : the descent of the nursery rhyme -- A faculty for the muses (I) : fairy tales and tutors -- A tutor recants : the unwriting of Alice in Wonderland -- A faculty for the muses (II) : the name of the muse -- A faculty for the muses (III) : over the rainbow -- The black rabbit : a fable of, by, and for the people -- Sis Beatrix : the fable in the nursery -- The green pastures : the descent of the fable.
Summary The man in the moon has dropped down for a visit, Alice is passing through a looking glass, Dorothy riding a tornado to Oz, and Jack climbing a beanstalk to the heavens. To enter the world of children's literature is to journey to a realm where the real and the enchanted exist side by side. Spanning three centuries from Perrault's fairy tales to Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, this volume provides the first literary study devoted solely to imaginative writings for children, and the only history to gather together all the major works of Britain, Europe, and America. In tracing how the nursery rhyme, the fairy tale, and the beast fable evolved into modern nonsense verse and narrative fantasy, we are offered fascinating insights into the works of Beatrix Potter, Rudyard Kipling, Kenneth Grahame, and A.A. Milne, amongst others. Goldthwaite's bold claims will inspire some readers and outrage others. He hails Pinocchio, for example, as the greatest of all children's books, but views C.S Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia as a parable that is not only misogynistic but also deeply blasphemous.
Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America
Subject Children's literature -- History and criticism.
Children's literature.
Fantasy literature -- History and criticism.
Fantasy literature.
Children -- Books and reading.
Children -- Books and reading.
Genre/Form Electronic books.
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Subject Children.
Other Form: Print version: Goldthwaite, John. Natural history of make-believe. New York : Oxford University Press, 1996 0195038061 (DLC) 95031813 (OCoLC)32894948
ISBN 1429415355 (electronic book)
9781429415354 (electronic book)
1280523050
9781280523052
0195038061 (Cloth)
9780195038064