Don't Tell the Grown-ups: Subversive Children's Literature

256 Pages·2016·31.54 MB·English

by  Lurie Alison.

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Subversive
Childreife
literature
'
FPT $19.95
Inthisspiritedcollectionofessays, Pulitzer
Prize-winningnovelistAlisonLurie
exploresasurprisingtheme: thatthe
best-lovedchildren'sbookstendto
challengeratherthanupholdrespectable
adultvalues. Astheauthorwrites, 'Most
'
ofthegreatworksofjuvenileliteratureare
subversiveinonewayoranother: they
expressideasandemotionsnotgenerally
approvedoforevenrecognizedatthetime;
theymakefunofhonoredfiguresand
piouslyheldbeliefs; andtheyviewsocial
pretenseswithclear-eyeddirectness,
remarking—asinAndersen'sfamous
tale—thattheemperorhasnoclothes.'
AlisonLurie'ssubjectsincludethegreat
classicworkswrittenforchildren:Alice's
Adventuresin Wonderland, PeterPan,
Winnie-the-Pooh, The TaleofPeter
Rabbit, thebooksofE. NesbitandKate
Greenaway. Shefindsthatthewaysof
subversionarevaried. BeatrixPotter's
PeterRabbitmayhavehadafright
trespassinginMr. McGregor'sgarden, but
hereturnsthereshortly, asLurienotes,
"quiteunrepentant.'' E. Nesbit'sworldly
childrendeflateadulthypocrisy. A. A.
Milnecreatesanalternativeparadiseof
gentlenessandprivacy. Lurieshowsthat
theenduringchildren'sbooksarenot
patronizingormorallyimproving; rather,
03901945
BOSTOISI
PUBLIC
LIBRARY

DON'T TELL THE
GROWN-UPS
ByAlison Lurie
NOVELS
Love andFriendship
TheNowhere City
Imaginary Friends
RealPeople
The WarBetween the Tales
Only Children
ForeignAffairs
The TruthAboutLorinJones
NONFICTION
V. R. Lang: A Memoir
The Language ofClothes
Don't Tell the Grown-ups
JUVENILE
Clever Gretchen and OtherForgotten Folk Tales
TheHeavenlyZoo
Fabulous Beasts
Don^t Tell the
Grown-ups
SUBVERSIVE CHILDREN'S
LITERATURE
Alison Lurie
%m
Little, Brown and Company
BOSTON TORONTO LONDON
Copyright © 1990byAlisonLurie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Nopartofthisbookmaybe reproducedinanyformorbyanyelectronicor
mechanicalmeans, includinginformationstorageandretrievalsystems, without
permissioninwritingfromthepublisher, exceptbyareviewer, whomayquote
briefpassagesinareview.
FIRST EDITION
Some ofthese essays have appeared, in a differentform andunderdifferenttitles,
inthefollowingpublications. Theyarereprintedbypermission.
Children'sLiterature: "BacktoPoohComer," "FordMadoxFord'sFairyTales"
Harper'sMagazine: "Vulgar, Coarseand Grotesque"
Ms.: "LostWomen: BeatrixPotter"
New YorkReviewofBooks: "TheBoyWhoCouldn'tGrowUp,""Brakingfor
Elves," "FairyTale Liberation," "The Fate oftheMunchkins," "HappyEndings,"
"Life's GreatestHits," "The PowerofSmokey," "RidingtheWave ofthe Future,"
"The RoundTableinRuins," "ATaleofTerror," "UndergroundGenius,"
"WitchesandFairies: FitzgeraldtoUpdike,""The Worldofthe PiedPiper"
New York TimesBookReview: "BeatrixPotterinPaper," "TheJuniperTreeand
OtherTalesfromGrimm," "NowWeAre Fifty"
SignetClassics: IntroductiontoPeterPan
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Lurie, Alison.
Don'ttellth—e grown-ups : subversivechildren'sliterature/
AlisonLurie. 1sted.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferences.
ISBN0-316-53722-5
—
1. Children'sliterature, English Historyandcriticism.
—
2. Children Booksandreading. I. Title.
PR990.L8 1990
—
820.9'9282 dc20 89-14567
CIP
987654321
10
FG
PublishedsimultaneouslyinCanada
byLittle, Brown& Company(Canada)Limited
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OFAMERICA
ForDoris
L
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2011
I
http://www.archive.org/details/donttellgrownupsOOIuri