Kenneth Grahame's The wind in the willows : a children's classic at 100 / edited by Jackie C. Horne, Donna R. White.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Horne, Jackie C., 1965-

White, Donna R., 1955-

Series:

Children's Literature Association centennial studies ; no. 5.

Children's Literature Association centennial studies ; no. 5

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Grahame, Kenneth, 1859-1932. Wind in the willows.

Grahame, Kenneth.

Children's stories, English--History and criticism.

Children's stories, English.

Pastoral fiction, English--History and criticism.

Pastoral fiction, English.

Animals in literature.

Physical Description:

xlii, 259 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Md. : Children's Literature Association and Scarecrow Press, 2010.

Summary:

In 1908, Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows was published to surprisingly little critical fanfare. Nonetheless, readers championed its cause, and Graham's novel of riverbank life soon proved both a commercial-and ultimately critical-success. One hundred years after its first publication, Grahame's book and its memorable characters continue their hold on the public imagination and have taken their place in the canon of children's literature. However, little academic criticism emerged in the wake of the book's initial publication. Only after the appearance of Peter Green's biocritical study did academics begin to wrestle with Graham's complex work, although many read it in terms of the author's often unhappy personal life.

The essays in Kenneth Graham's The Wind in the Willows: A Children's Classic at 100 focus on recent discussions of the book in regard to class, gender, and nationality and also examine issues previously not addressed by Grahame criticism, such as the construction of heteronormative masculinity, the appeal of this very English novel to Chinese readers, and the meaning of a text in which animals can be humanlike, pets, servants, and even food. This volume also revisits some of the issues that have engaged critics from the start, including the book's dual-strand narrative structure, the function of home, and the psychological connections between Toad and Grahame. Scholars of fantasy and children's literature will find great value in this collection that sheds new light on an enduring classic.

Contents:

Part I Competing Discourses 1

Chapter 1 Deus ex Natura or Nonstick Pan?: Competing Discourses in Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows / David Rudd 3

Chapter 2 Techne, Technology, and Disenchantment in The Wind in the Willows / Deborah Dysart-Gale 23

Chapter 3 "Up [and Down and Back and Forth] We Go!": Dialogic and Carnivalesque Qualities in the Wind in the Willows / Cathrine L. Elick 43

Chapter 4 It's a Mole-Eat-Hare World: The River Bank, the School, and the Colony / Meg Worley 67

Chapter 5 A Contemporary Psychological Understanding of Mr. Toad and His Relationships in The Wind in the Willows / Jonathan Mattanah 87

Part II Representations of the Edwardian Age 109

Chapter 6 "Animal-Etiquette" and Edwarelian Manners in Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows / Karen A. Keely 111

Chapter 7 Locating Englishness within the Commodity Culture of the Early Twentieth Century in the Wind in the Willows / Ymitri Mathison 135

Chapter 8 Animal Boys, Aspiring Aesthetes, and Differing Masculinities: Aestheticism Revealed in The Wind in the Willows / Wynn Yarbrough 157

Part III Beyond the Text 187

Chapter 9 The Wind Blows to the East: On Chinese Translations of Kenneth Graham's The Wind in the Willows / Shu-Fang Lai 189

Chapter 10 The Pursuit of Pleasure in The Wind in the Willows and Disney's The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad / Jennifer Geer 215.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780810872585

0810872587

9780810872592

0810872595

OCLC:

424454841