Italy

Abstract

Italy Elena Kilian Francesca Orestano (Ed) Tempi moderni nella children's literature. Storie, personaggi, strumenti critici [Modern times in 'children's literature'. Stories, characters, literary-critical tools) (Series: LIMC 5) Milan: CUEM 2007 225pp ISBN 9788860011206€14 Click for larger view View full resolution A continuation of Le guide del mattino. Alle origini della 'children's literature' [The morning guides. On the origins of 'children's literature'], this volume of collected essays is devoted to the study of modern British children's literature. The editor, professor of English at Milan State University and since 2007 host of an English-language website on the study of children's books in Italy (http://users.unimi.it/childlit/), brings together eight contributions by Italian Anglicists. The period of the Enlightenment is represented by the essay 'Puer oeconomicus', which looks at work, wealth, and social rise in 18th-century narrative children's literature, and by Giulia Margon's article on Sarah Fielding's The Governess, or The Little Female Academy (1749), the first British novel to be published specifically for girls. Matteo Crivelli's contribution on scientific phenomena and issues in Lewis Carroll's Alice novels is followed by four essays on famous protagonists of children's books from the Victorian era to the present: Winnie-the-Pooh, Mary Poppins, Harry Potter and, in Orestano's essay, child protagonists in 19th-century urban novels. An annotated bibliography of British children's literature from the beginnings to the postmodern present completes the volume, which, thanks to its broad thematic and historic scope, succeeds in uncovering the intellectual and cultural roots of British children's literature. [End Page 56] Copyright © 2007 Bookbird, Inc. Reproduction of articles in Bookbird requires permission in writing from the editor. Items from Focus IBBY may be reprinted freely to disseminate the work of IBBY.