Children's Literature and the Fin de Siècle

The close of a century invites both retrospection and prognostication. As a period of transition, it also brings a sense of uncertainty, finality, and apocalypticism. This volume examines fin de siecle tensions in 19th- and 20th-century children's literature from around the world. The contributors look back at children's literature of the past and ahead toward children's literature of the future, while probing such issues as literary nonsense and the breakdown of language, the image of the child as redeemer, social engineering in children's literature, the Holocaust in children's fiction, fear in contemporary fantasy, and changing notions of masculinity.