The Grenby and the Carpenter

The Walrus and the Carpenter
Were walking close at hand;
They wept like anything to see
Such quantities of sand:
“If this were only cleared away,”
They said, “it would be grand!”

Two  essays in our Reader may help us with the tricky task of clearing away some sand identifying some historical context.

The essays are detailed, subtle, and many-faceted. My notes are – not.

‘Children’s Literature: Birth, Infancy, Maturity’  (Grenby, 2009)

‘Birth’ : say in the 1740s,  when children’s books became established as a branch of print culture. On the other hand, you could trace children’s reading back to ancient Sumer, and see children as empowered protagonists even in ‘joyful death’ stories; but are these examples of ‘children’s literature’?

‘Infancy’: to 1800s, as authors grasped the opportunity, but expansion awaited social, economic and cultural changes. Bestsellers were still instructional and devotional,  but now moral tales with child protagonists were influential. The Religious Tract Society jumped on the bandwagon and produced cheap, pious yet attractive publications. By 1800 there were ‘children’s chapbooks’ which combined cheapness, morality, and (from fairy tales) fantasy.

‘Approaching maturity’: the fantastical and fanciful were strengthening in early 1800s and a taste developed for celebrating the child’s point of view. However [despite the essay's title!]  we must avoid imposing  ‘artificial narratives’ on the history of children’s literature. It was now diverse, across markets and genres, and competition ushered in the Golden Age 1860s-1920s.

‘The First Golden Age’ (Carpenter,1985)

Locke expected a child to grow through reason, Rousseau through play, Mrs Trimmer through severe piety. But then Wordsworth felt the child was nearer Eden (and doomed to leave paradise).  In the mid 19th century, the child’s view of the world had entered fiction (Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, The Mill on the Floss). Yet by the 1860s there was little in the way of full-length imaginative work for children. The age of expanding Empire inspired ‘realistic’ adventure and school stories, but little enduring work. On the other hand, adults without religious convictions, losing economic confidence, turned introspective and sought escape. They found a new audience, still middle class and affluent, but with smaller families and still high child mortality. There was a hunger for ‘sentimental idealisation of childhood’ and the way was open for the more introspective authors (Grahame, Potter, Barrie, Milne) looking for an Arcadia, a Good Place, a Secret Garden.

Retelling Zipes

Imagine I’m a fairy tale, one of a very large family.

Once upon a time, I and my family travelled around from hearth to hearth by word of mouth to peasants who learned from us to dream of wonders. We continued to do so but in the 15^th century  some of us found our way into print. How amazed I was as my distant cousins put on airs, and spoke to the aristocracy and middle classes.

Even the wealthy like to dream of wonders, and it looked to me as if some of my family simply dressed up their wonders to suit their new world. But others put on more sober clothes and became teachers, or took pay from the rich and powerful, making sure that their listeners learned the lessons they were supposed to learn. Some even joined the church, and coloured their stories with Christian characters. Though I’ve also been amused to see how some of the Church stories in their turn ran away, changed their clothes, and started to intermarry with my family.

Of course we have changed with the times.  I knew little originally of town life, religious conflict, or peasant uprisings; but I clothed myself with what I found around me.  Not always beautifully but then it’s not my job to be beautiful, or to watch over the sensitivities of my listeners, old or young.  It’s my job to entertain, isn’t it?

Well, that was my thinking. Then everything was overturned. My French cousins  took up with aristocratic women and by the mid 17^th century there was no stopping them. They became fashionable, settled in print, and defined the job quite differently, becoming tutors to the gentry. They despatched their offspring across Europe, to speak in their languages, even if simply and sometimes just to the children. As offspring have to, they earned their keep where they could, fitting in with the Puritans and governesses in England – though I’m happy to say they did not have it all their own way. The older family members learned to survive, in cheap print.

Things changed again in the 19^th century. Some got a little bigheaded when taken up by the intellectuals.  Still, though, the old family continued, relying on their entertainment value to appeal to the younger listeners. I took the main chance and went into print with Andersen. I had to tidy myself up a little for the nursery but I was allowed to keep my colourful clothes. It was worth taking Andersen’s pay: I learned some accomplishments and travelled across Europe and America.

Well, things have changed radically.  My clothes! You cannot begin to imagine how much pleasure I’ve taken in the different outfits I’ve been given.  I admit sometimes I feel a little old hat alongside the younger generation – for them, anything goes, and sometimes they eclipse me totally. But now and then I happen alongside someone who gives me a complete makeover. I hardly know myself. The surprising  thing is that I’m finding my way into more hearths than ever.  And I’m more rich and famous than I’ve ever been.

(Very loosely based on Zipes, J. (2006) ‘Origins: Fairy Tales and Folk Tales’  in Maybin, J., and Watson, N.J.,  (eds),2009, Children’s Literature: Approaches and Territories, Basingstoke, Palgrave Mamillan, pp26-38.

On reading Hunt’s ‘Instruction and Delight’

Peter Hunt is great at challenging any assumptions we might have about children’s literature, isn’t he? I got a bit lost in the richness of this essay. Then I tried substituting the notion of  toys for that of children’s literature. How far does the analogy work?

The range of toys is huge. Toys have been marketed for children for ?  250 years. They can be looked at from the point of view of their creators’ purposes (to instruct or delight). They could be studied as an escape to more innocent times, but their representations of childhood should be viewed unsentimentally and critically.

Toys are important. They reflect cultural, educational and social thinking. They are manufactured and marketed. They relate to children’s play and to their personal development. But we cannot assume, as adults, that we know what is happening when children play.

There are basic concepts to clarify. What do we mean by the ideas of quality, value or toys? Even a cardboard box can be a toy, in the eyes of a child. Essentially, the definition must relate to an idea of the child or of childhood. Is it perfectly obvious when something is a toy? Or is it more subtle than that? The simplest toy (say, a peg doll) relies on symbols that the child must interpret (painted features represent the human face). Is a toy created to amuse a child, or sometimes to amuse the adult and engage them in playing with the child? Who judges which are the ‘best’ toys – are these the ‘classics’ such as the beautifully crafted doll’s house or  train set; or is that the thinking of a self-declared elite, and in fact even an everyday toy (a ball, for instance) is precious in its way?

We can consider how children actually use toys and games, and compare how adults expect them to be used. The role of adults in producing toys is complex: what is their motivation; their ideology? The could be manipulating children; or idealising them. They are certainly producing toys and games as a commodification of childhood activity.  Adults are also involved in questions of the suitability of particular toys for children, and this can involve a complex of social values.

…

I admit that the analogy is a bit thin. In particular, there’s not the same complexity (where’s the crossover for adults?) Perhaps if I included games. It seems to me that games are a bit like fairy tales: origins lost in the mists of time, for adults and children, now (computer games) massively commodified…