A Study Of British Children 's Fantasy Literature In Victorian Times

Britain in the Victorian era ushered in a Golden Age of children’s literature andwitnessed a remarkable phenomenon of a large number of well-known writers allwriting for children, such as John Ruskin, Lewis Carroll, Charles Kingsley, Oscar Wilde,etc. Different from the realistic writers who were dedicated to depicting life as it was,these writers created a non-realistic fantastic world, a magical and exotic world ofimagination. Fantasy as a genre flowered in Victorian era and rapidly seized and sharedthe high ground of English literature with the mainstream realist novel. Due to variousreasons, fantasy at home and abroad has been relegated to the realm of children’sliterature and has not been given due attention by mainstream critics. This dissertationfocuses on Victorian children’s fantasy and aims to analyze the causes for its rise, itsthemes, images, artistic features, etc. in an attempt to give an overall and objectiveoutline and evaluation of Victorian fantasy. The dissertation covers some masterpiecesof fantasy and employs several research methods such as historical, psychological andfeminist criticism, combined with a discussion of the social, historical and culturalbackground of Victorian England. In addition to the introduction, this dissertationincludes five chapters.The introduction focuses on three issues: first, the concept of fantasy. Fantasy as aliterary genre is an extremely vague concept, and researchers have given many differentdefinitions from different perspectives. Fantasy in a general sense is contrary to realisticliterature, covering a variety of subgenres; in a narrow sense, it refers to fantasy novel.Second, the literature review of fantasy at home and abroad. Third, the researchapproaches and innovation of this dissertation.The first chapter is on the rise of children’s fantasy. The rise of children’s fantasy inVictorian era is not a coincidence, but a result of the combined effects of various factorsincluding the social background and cultural ideologies, while the evolution of attitudestowards children and a stress on the importance of imagination play a particularlyimportant role. In addition, other factors such as the rise of the middle class and thepopularity of fairy tales should also be taken into consideration.The second chapter is on the romantic spirit of Victorian children’s fantasy. Fantasyhas its origin in the Romantic Movement and displays a strong romantic spirit, with a celebration for imagination and return to nature as two main features. Wordsworth andColeridge’s debate over imagination and fantasy and their poetic practices attest to theimportant role of imagination and fantasy. Charles Dickens as the master of Realismstrongly defends fantasy and imagination and creates a series of fairy tales and fantasynovels, and George Macdonald goes even further by a radical departure from traditionalrealism to the fantasy world in search of a higher truth. Victorian children’s fantasyinherits the Romantic view of nature, either by looking into the ecological crisis,depicting the beauty of nature, displaying pure innocence in children, or describing thetranquility of rural life. They show a close relationship with nature, reflecting a spirit ofanimism and harmony with nature.The third chapter discusses themes of Victorian children’s fantasy. Love and Deathare two eternal themes of literature. In addition to these two themes, this chapter alsofocuses on the theme of Quest. Children’s fantasy is a "gift of love" to children from theadult writers, who weave their rich life experience into their works and pass on to thechild the belief of love, to love nature and love the others. Though not predominant inchildren’s literature, Death does occupy an important position and remain a major themein Victorian fantasy, as writers of the Victorian era are particularly concerned aboutdeath. Writers write about death either to express their confusion over religion, to showtheir concern for the fate of children in real life, or to confront the ugly and vulgarsociety. In addition, the young heroes’ adventures in fantasy follow a common theme ofQuest, showing a similar pattern of Departure---Trial---Return. The child accepts thecall for adventure, leaves the familiar scene, explores a strange and alien land, andfinally returns to him/her self by getting an understanding of the others.The fourth chapter is a discussion of children and women images in Victorianchildren’s fantasy. Victorian children’s fantasy creates a variety of children characterswith different personalities and destinies. Lewis Carroll’s elfish girl Alice, CharlesKingsley’s chimney sweeper who plunges into the river and turns into a water-baby, andGeorge Macdonald’s "real child", e.g. the son of a coachman named Diamond, PrincessIrene and the small miner boy Curdie all add a wealth of material to the gallery ofchildren in English literature. Women figured prominently in Victorian literature. Therole of woman in Victorian England is to be “an angel in the house”. Victorianchildren’s fantasy plays a role in transmitting to children the dominant social andcultural values of the age. Some male writers portray women angels in their works,while some ignore women deliberately in their fiction, resulting in their absence in many works. Lewis Carroll, however, subverts the gender roles in his two Alice novelsby portraying several anti-traditional, aggressive female characters. Edith Nesbit, as arepresentative female writer of children’s fantasy, portrays girls who are fundamentallyconsistent with the traditional expectations, but occasionally she also createsindependent anti-traditional female characters, showing a contradictory attitude towardswomen.The fifth chapter discusses the abject situation in Victorian children’s fantasy. JuliaKristeva defines the abject as something that the mainstream symbolic order must expelor suppress in order to maintain stability. Children are the abject excluded by the adultsociety. Charles Kingsley’s chimney sweeper Tom, George MacDonald’s Princess Ireneand miner boy Curdie, and Lewis Carroll’s little Alice who breaks into the undergroundWonderland and Looking-glass land, are all objects of abjection excluded by thesymbolic order. By revealing their abject conditions, children’s fantasy recognizes andempowers children.The conclusion summarizes the whole dissertation, gives a prospect for futureresearch in this field, and points out the value and significance of fantasy in our era.