ABSTRACT EDITH NESBIT’S STORIES OF THE BASTABLES: CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW GENRE OF LITERATURE FOR CHILDREN Through the examination of E. Nesbit’s tales of the Bastable children, this thesis explores the innovative content and literary methods in Nesbit’s texts, methods resulting in the solidification of Nesbit’s credibility and value as a woman writer for children as a result of her new avenue of children’s literature. Nesbit employs a distinctive voice of a child-narrator to accomplish her goals of breaking free from the constraints that bound female writers in Victorian England and communicating her mixed social and political stances. She creates a space for herself in which to vocalize her positions on British imperialism and the role and value of children and childhood in society. Although Nesbit seemingly conforms to the restrictive genre of children’s literature as one of the only literary opportunities for women, in reality she utilizes this apparent submission to grant herself a voice in a society that silenced and marginalized women. In this way, E. Nesbit constructs a new way of writing for children that better serves both female authorship as well as a child-audience. Corinth Ann Gibbs May 2010 EDITH NESBIT’S STORIES OF THE BASTABLES: CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW GENRE OF LITERATURE FOR CHILDREN by Corinth Ann Gibbs A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English in the College of Arts and Humanities California State University, Fresno May 2010 APPROVED For the Department of English: We, the undersigned, certify that the thesis of the following student meets the required standards of scholarship, format, and style of the university and the student's graduate degree program for the awarding of the master's degree. Corinth Ann Gibbs Thesis Author Ruth Jenkins (Chair) English Laurel Hendrix English Toni Wein English For the University Graduate Committee: Dean, Division of Graduate Studies AUTHORIZATION FOR REPRODUCTION OF MASTER’S THESIS X I grant permission for the reproduction of this thesis in part or in its entirety without further authorization from me, on the condition that the person or agency requesting reproduction absorbs the cost and provides proper acknowledgment of authorship. Permission to reproduce this thesis in part or in its entirety must be obtained from me. Signature of thesis author: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It has been a long road to finally completing my MA Thesis and there are quite a few people I am indebted to. I want to thank all my instructors for the wonderful experiences I had in the coursework for my master’s degree. Dr. Ruth Jenkins, Dr. Laurel Hendrix, Dr. Rick Hansen, and Dr. Magda Gilewicz significantly influenced the ways I read literature, write and revise, and teach. A huge thank you goes to my thesis readers for the time and effort put into getting this done! I’ve been blessed with some really great colleagues and friends who have also helped this thesis come to be. Andria Osteen-Chinn and Jaclyn Hardy read my writing and responded as only true friends do....over and over and over again. Thank you! My family and friends have stood by me and encouraged me throughout this long process. I owe my parents, Michael and Barbara Potts, grandparents, Larry and Marquita Taylor, and sisters Jen and Ally for their love, support, and the hours of babysitting so that I could read, write, and think! Thank you for always believing I could do it, even when “one more semester” turned into years. Thank you for keeping me motivated. Thank you to my extended family, especially Aunt Kathy for always asking about it and Uncle Larry, for the Uncle Larry Scholarship. My friends – Sarah, Leslie, Andria – thanks for listening to me complain and for distracting me when I needed it. Thank you to Gary Brown for financially supporting my education, as well. My love and appreciation goes especially to my husband, Kaleb, for his love, encouragement, and (almost) endless patience, as well as to my daughters v Nevaeh and Taylor for being so sweet even when Mommy had to work on her thesis when they wanted playtime, or lunch. I did it for you. I love you. To anyone who played a role in my education and completion of this thesis, thank you. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page 1. INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT . 1 Introduction: Nesbit’s Contribution to Children’s Literature . 1 Situating Children’s Literature . 2 Victorian Society and British Imperialism . 11 E. Nesbit’s Biographical Information . 16 2. VICTORIAN CHILDHOOD AND CHILDREN’S LITERATURE . 30 Children and Childhood in Victorian England . 30 Victorian Children’s Literature and Childhood . 43 3. NESBIT’S MANIPULATION OF OSWALD BASTABLE AS NARRATOR . 60 4. NESBIT’S INTEGRATION OF BRITISH IMPERIALISM INTO LITERATURE FOR CHILDREN . 79 5. CONCLUSION. 103 WORKS CITED . 108 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT “A story, even a children’s story, is more than just a story, no matter how simple it may seem” (Kutzer xiii). Introduction: Nesbit’s Contribution to Children’s Literature In The Story of the Treasure Seekers, The Would-Be-Goods, The New Treasure Seekers, and Oswald Bastable and Others, Edith Nesbit utilizes various literary methods to comment on the society of the Victorian era, effectively subverting the social restraints that bound and silenced women. She employs techniques such as creating an obscure as well as child-narrator, directly addressing her reader, and providing humor, asides, and references to various literary works. These methods work to Nesbit’s advantage by enabling her to branch out from the socially accepted genres and manners of writing that women were subjected to and confined by. In reflecting on British colonialism, the value and role of literature in Victorian society, and the role of children and childhood in her society, Nesbit addresses imperialism, childhood and literary value, all topics which women in Victorian England were discouraged from addressing or remarking. “Despite the numerous oppositions . in her life and children’s stories, Nesbit managed to liberate herself and her children’s books from Victorian constraints” establishing herself as an important contributor to the Golden Age of children’s literature, despite critical perceptions of her as a conservative imitator of more prominent Victorian authors (Moss, “E. Nesbit’s Romantic Child” 107). Nesbit, “having conceived of Oswald Bastable, was able to use him to speak for 2 her,” which allowed her to censure the society that she was a part of, without being condemned and ostracized (Streatfeild 83). The use of a child voice as narrator sets Nesbit apart from her Victorian contemporaries due to the originality of Oswald’s tone, humor, and attempted ambiguity, masking Nesbit’s emerging ideals. Her utilization of a child’s voice also affirms the role of children in Victorian society as more than vessels to simply be controlled and filled with information; instead, she gives them value and purpose, intelligence and autonomy. Her parody of the literary language and content reveals her bias towards texts offering entertainment and promoting imagination above training and regulation. With writing for children being one of the few acceptable genres for women writers, Nesbit resorted to incorporating her more adult views, about imperialism for example, into her children’s texts. She used child-play to represent imperialistic endeavors, allowing her to discuss such controversial, male-dominated issues. Her inclusion of imperialistic games in the Bastable children’s activities demonstrated her promotion of colonist expansion. Analyzing Edith Nesbit’s unique literary techniques and the originality of her writing and ideals, this thesis seeks to validate her as a prominent predecessor of children’s literature worthy of in-depth study and illustrate how she creates a new avenue of children’s literature. By including the social implications surrounding imperialism and the role and status of children as well as authentic representations of children, Nesbit uses her unique voice of a child-narrator and the realistic games, thoughts, and attitudes of children to create original and provocative literature. Situating Children’s Literature Although writings for children can be traced back before the time of the Romantics, the widespread, rapid increase in texts for children became apparent 3 towards the end of the Romantic period (late 1700s, early 1800s) and beginning of the Victorian period. According to Anita Moss, a prominent Nesbit scholar, Nesbit began writing The Story of the Treasure Seekers in 1898. It first appeared serially in the Pall Mall Magazine and the Windsor Magazine. Nesbit wrote about the adventures of the Bastable children in The Would-Be-Goods (1901) and The New Treasure Seekers (1904), including some tales about the Bastables in Oswald Bastable and Others in 1905 (Moss, “Story” 188). When she created the Bastable children, perceptions of children and their role in society ranged from the ideal obedient and moral child to the glorification of and nostalgia for childhood imagination and innocence of the Romantics to the wage-earning, slave-like child of the Industrial Revolution. These images of children dominated children’s literature and dictated how texts were written for children. Colin Manlove explains the shift toward the more imaginative children’s literature to which Nesbit contributed: “by the 1860s the shifting duality of morality and imagination was on the whole veering to the latter side. The ideas of the ‘beautiful child,’ and of childhood itself as a separate state, were beginning to take wider hold” and as that took place, “imagination, not morality [took] the dominant role” (21). Both in content and style, Nesbit serves as an originator of these more creative and different ways to view and treat children, and thus, write for them.