Nineteenth-Century Fictions of Childhood and the Politics of Play

<p>Drawing evidence from transatlantic literary texts of childhood as well as from nineteenth and early twentieth century children’s and family card board and parlor games and games manuals <i>Nineteenth-Century Fictions of Childhood and the Politics of Play </i>aims to reveal what might be thought of as playful literary citizenship or some of the motivations inherent in later nineteenth and early twentieth century Anglo-American play pursuits as they relate to interest in shaping citizens through investment in good literature. Tracing play as a societal and historical construct as it surfaces time and again in children’s literary texts as well as children’s literary texts as they surface time and again in situations and environments of children’s play this book underscores how play and literature are consistently deployed in tandem in attempts to create ideal citizens – even as those ideals varied greatly and were dependent on factors such as gender ethnicity colonial status and class.</p><p></p>