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

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

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

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. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Independent Scholar Dream Tree, a discussion of science and culture with a historical emphasis: kellysearsmith.livejournal.com Nineteenth Century Studies on Facebook: http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=12748468071

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 - Hide quoted text -- Show quoted text -

Helen, It's so good to see you here!  I think this is a wonderful idea