DIPLOMARBEIT Titel der Diplomarbeit „Social Didacticism in Edith Nesbit’s Children’s Literature: A literary analysis of The Story of the Treasure Seekers, Five Children and It and The Railway Children“ Verfasserin Andrea Pickem angestrebter akademischer Grad Magistra der Philosophie (Mag.phil.) Wien, 2013 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A 190 347 344 Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt: UF Französisch, UF Englisch Betreuerin: Assoz. Prof. Mag. Dr. Susanne Reichl i DECLARATION OF AUTHENTICITY I hereby confirm that this diploma thesis was written by myself. I have clearly marked as a quote everything that was taken over verbatim from secondary literature. I have also indicated when I have taken over ideas from secondary sources. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I want to take this opportunity to thank the people who encouraged me so much with their love and endless support during the last couple of months while I was writing this diploma thesis. First of all I want to thank my parents for all their support, motivation and encouragement. Thank you to my Mum for offering the best pieces of advice, supporting me in all my choices and for sharing my passion for reading. Thank you to my Dad, who loves travelling, foreign cultures and languages as much as I do. I also want to acknowledge the support of my brother, who helped me so much with all technical problems. I want to thank all my friends, and especially my boyfriend. Special thanks go to my supervisor Ass. Prof. Mag. Dr. Reichl. Through her literary and didactic courses my interest in children’s literature grew enormously. Finally I want to dedicate this diploma thesis to my beloved grandparents, who passed away a couple of years ago but whose caring love I will never forget. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 3 2. GREAT BRITAIN’S SOCIETY AND POLITICS BETWEEN 1875 AND 1906 ........ 6 2.1 Social Life in the Victorian Period ........................................................................ 6 2.1.1 Class and Labour .......................................................................................... 7 2.1.2 The Role of Women ...................................................................................... 9 2.1.3 Victorian Children ........................................................................................ 11 2.2 Politics and Economics: the Socialist Movement during the 1880s .................... 14 2.3 The Fabian Society : 1884 - 1906 ...................................................................... 17 3. CHILDREN’S LITERATURE AND THE ROLE OF IDEOLOGIES ....................... 22 3.1 Children’s Literature – A Question of Definition ................................................. 22 3.2 Juvenile Literature and the Victorian Period ...................................................... 24 3.3 Ideologies and their effects on Children’s Literature .......................................... 26 3.3.1 Levels of ideology ....................................................................................... 27 3.3.2 The role of the reader.................................................................................. 29 4. SOCIAL DIDACTICISM IN THE RAILWAY CHILDREN, FIVE CHILDREN AND IT AND THE STORY OF THE TREASURE SEEKERS .................................................. 33 4.1 Edith Nesbit – A Woman out of the Norm .......................................................... 33 4.2 Social Didacticism – A Definition ....................................................................... 35 4.3 The Railway Children, Five Children and It and The Story of the Treasure Seekers ................................................................................................................... 36 4.3.1 Point of View and Narrative Technique ....................................................... 38 4.3.2 Language and Style .................................................................................... 45 2 4.3.3 Intertextuality .............................................................................................. 48 4.3.4 The Role of Characters ............................................................................... 54 4.3.5 Structure, Chronology and the Past ............................................................ 63 4.3.6 Boys and Girls ............................................................................................ 67 4.3.7 Magical Elements ........................................................................................ 72 4.3.8 Expression of Social Values ........................................................................ 78 5. CONCLUSION..................................................................................................... 81 6. BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................. 84 6.1 Primary Sources ................................................................................................ 84 6.2 Secondary Sources ........................................................................................... 84 7. APPENDIX .......................................................................................................... 89 7.1 Appendix 1 ........................................................................................................ 89 8. ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................... 91 9. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG ....................................................................................... 92 10. CURRICULUM VITAE ......................................................................................... 93 3 1. INTRODUCTION Literary texts can fulfil a great number of purposes. For example, they can be persuasive, instructive or entertaining. This is especially true for children’s literature. However, the purposes of children’s texts changed particularly during the nineteenth century. Early in the Victorian period the majority of children’s literature was used as a medium to instruct and teach children. In fact children’s texts as a form of entertainment for children, as they are known today, gained significant importance during the mid- and late Victorian periods with the publication of texts such as Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley. Obviously, things do not change from one day to another. Changes take place gradually and over a longer time period. This is why children’s literature in the second half of the century still remained didactic to some extent. Many mid- and late Victorian authors took the opportunity to convey social values and norms via their literary works. This phenomenon – now reduced to its most basic meaning - is famously known as ‘social didacticism’. This diploma thesis seeks to investigate to what extent social didacticism is visible and traceable in the three late Victorian children’s novels The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1899), Five Children and It (1902) and The Railway Children (1906) written by the extraordinary writer Edith Nesbit. Edith Nesbit is known as ‘a woman of passion’ (see Briggs, Edith Nesbit), as Julia Briggs calls her in Nesbit’s biography. With Nesbit’s marriage to Hubert Bland, Edith quickly found her way into politics. Her husband, being founder member of the Fabian Society, was in favour of the emerging socialism of the 1880s. The Society, founded mainly by intellectuals from middle and upper classes in 1884, is considered as forerunner of today’s Labour Party. Its main principle was the promotion of equality and social justice within the existent social classes of nineteenth century British society. Nesbit participated in the Society too, but she was not considered as activist in the Society as her beloved husband Hubert. It can be assumed that Nesbit was influenced by her husband in her political thinking and that her political engagement was reflected in her literature to some extent. Carpenter basically agrees with this statement, but also expresses his doubts about Nesbit’s political engagement: 4 A reader searching for superficial evidence of Edith Nesbit’s socialism will not have far to look in her books. […] In fact there is no real contradiction between her life and her work. Her support of the socialist cause was only skin deep. She revelled in the atmosphere created by the Fabians without having much intellectual grasp of their doctrines. (Carpenter 127 - 128) The main research question underlying this diploma thesis is therefore concerned with Edith Nesbit’s integration of her political beliefs into her literature and the influence of the Fabian Society on her writing. By means of a detailed literary analysis of the three primary texts, which have already been listed above, I will try to investigate to what extent and through which ways Edith Nesbit’s political engagement and her beliefs become visible in her texts. As I can only make assumptions about Nesbit’s intentions and beliefs and because opinions on the matter are highly divergent, it will be impossible to give a finite and conclusive answer as to whether Nesbit consciously included Fabian socialist values or not. The conclusion of this thesis will therefore outline certain tendencies which will be identified in the literary analysis of the three primary texts. To understand the concept of ‘social didacticism’ and above all, to comprehend the literary analysis, the first chapter of the thesis