The Peripheral Child in Nineteenth Century Literature and its Criticism [Hardcover]

Established accounts of the child in nineteenth century literature tend to focus on those who occupy a central position within narratives. This book is concerned with children who are not so easily recognized or remembered, the peripheral or overlooked children to be read in works by Dickens, Bront?, Austen and Rossetti.Acknowledgments Introduction PART I: THE RETURN OF THE CHILD 1. The Child and the Return: Persuasion 2. The Child and the Letter: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall 3. The Child and Transmission: 'Goblin Market' 4. The Child and the Thing: The Mystery of Edwin Drood PART II: HISTORY, ETHICS, AND ANALYSIS 5. The Queer Child: No Future and 'Dickens and the Construction of the Child 6. The Child and History: Strange Dislocations and The Mind of the Child Conclusion: Why Analysis? Notes Bibliography IndexNeil Cocks is a lecturer in English and American Literature at The University of Reading, UK, and a member of its Graduate Centre for International Research in Childhood: Literature, Culture, Media. He has previously published on contemporary educational theory, children's literature, art theory, and the nineteenth century novel.