E. Nesbit's Psammead Trilogy: A Children's Classic at 100: Children's Literature Association Centennial Studies Claudia Nelson Scarecrow Press

E. Nesbit's Psammead Trilogy

A Children's Classic at 100

E. Nesbit's Psammead Trilogy

A Children's Classic at 100

Description

The year 2006 marks the hundredth anniversary of book publication of the final volume of the Psammead trilogy-Five Children and It (1902), The Phoenix and the Carpet (1904), and The Story of the Amulet (1906)-a remarkable series of fantasy novels for children by an equally remarkable writer, Edith Nesbit. In this trilogy, Nesbit combined fantasy and history with the domestic realism and humor of her Bastable books-The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1899), The Wouldbegoods (1901), and The New Treasure Seekers (1904)-the books that established her reputation as one of England's preeminent writers for children. By doing so, she not only earned popularity with several generations of child readers, but she also established her claim to a position in the pantheon of important writers for children.

The essays collected in this volume celebrate the completion of the Psammead trilogy. Written by both established and new scholars in England, Canada, and the United States, these essays employ differing critical strategies and place Nesbit in various contexts to assess her achievement. In producing books with memorable comic moments, character-testing adventures, plausible child characters with real feelings and real limitations, and interesting and challenging thematic material, Nesbit produced in the Psammead trilogy books that children still read with enjoyment. Such fantasies truly are classics of children's literature. Teachers and students of children's literature and of British literature and culture will find this a valuable guide to critically reviewing and enjoying Nesbit's works.

Part 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Chapter 1. The "It" Girl (and Boy): Ideologies of Gender in the Psammead Trilogy
Chapter 3 Chapter 2. A Momentary Hunger: Fabianism and Didacticism in E. Nesbit's Writing for Children
Chapter 4 Chapter 3. The Beginning of the End: Writing Empire in E. Nesbit's Psammead Books
Chapter 5 Chapter 4. Generic Manipulation and Mutation: E. Nesbit's Psammead Series as Early Magical Realism
Chapter 6 Chapter 5. Materiality, the Wish, and the Marvelous: E. Nesbit's Comic Spirituality in the Psammead Trilogy
Chapter 7 Chapter 6. Communicating Humor in E. Nesbit's Fantasy Trilogy
Chapter 8 Chapter 7. Where It Was, There Shall Five Children Be: Staging Desire in Five Children and It
Chapter 9 Chapter 8. Textual Building Blocks: Charles Dickens and E. Nesbit's Literary Borrowings in Five Children and It
Chapter 10 Chapter 9. Five Children and It: Some Parallels with the Nineteenth-Century Moral Tale
Chapter 11 Chapter 10. News from E. Nesbit: The Story of the Amulet and the Socialist Utopia
Chapter 12 Chapter 11. The Amulet and Other Stories of Time
Chapter 13 Chapter 12. "Exactly As It Was"? H.R. Millar's Expansions and Subversions of the Psammead Trilogy
Chapter 14 Chapter 13. Only Half Magic: Edward Eager's Revision of Nesbit's Psammead Trilogy
Part 15 About the Editor and Contributors

Product details

Published	Apr 13 2006
Format	Hardback
Edition	1st
Extent	304
ISBN	9780810854017
Imprint	Scarecrow Press
Dimensions	224 x 151 mm
Series	Children's Literature Association Centennial Studies
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

Anthology Editor

Raymond E. Jones

Contributor

Claudia Nelson

Contributor

Monica Flegel

Contributor

Mavis Reimer

Contributor

Teya Rosenberg

Contributor

Naomi Pueo Wood

Contributor

Donna R. White

Contributor

David Rudd

Contributor

Jan Susina

Contributor

Ann Dowker

Contributor

Suzanne Rahn

Contributor

Julia Briggs

Contributor

Jennifer Marchant

Contributor

Esther Gilman Richey

...the collection offers an enticing array of shifting perspectives...The pleasure of these essays lies not only in their individual arguments but also in the way they creatively challenge and complement each other, demonstrating the vitality of contemporary Nesbit criticism.

Children's Literature Association Quarterly
a most admirable and timely volume.

English Literature and Translation
Nesbit's works of fantasy nestle on many a child's bookshelf, and in this trilogy three of them reside: Five Children and It, The Phoenix and the Carpet, and The Story of the Amulet. In this collection of 13 essays scholars peek behind the fantasy and find plenty, including such topics as the ideologies of gender in the Psammead Trilogy, Fabianism and didacticism, the writing of empire, magical realism in the form of generic manipulation and mutation, comic spirituality and communicating humor, staging desire in Five Children and It, Nesbit's and Dickens's literary borrowings, parallels with the nineteenth-century moral tale, socialist utopia in The Story of the Amulet, H.R. Millar's expansions and subversions of the trilogy, and Edgar Eager's revisions.

Reference and Research Book News