Treasure Island

1
Treasure Island

• English 505
• Dr. Roggenkamp

2
Some Nifty Scholarly Resources

• Hunt, Peter. Childrens Literature An
  Illustrated History. Oxford Oxford UP, 1995.
• Avery, Gillian. Behold the Child American
  Children and Their Books, 1621-1922. Baltimore
  Johns Hopkins UP, 1994

3
Periodical Publishing

• Central in advancing childrens literature
• Treasure Island first published in Young Folks (a
  penny weekly story paper)

4
Boys Adventure Genre

• Market segmentation (especially 1860s on)
• Plucky young protagonist, crew of villains,
  exotic setting, exciting difficulties (shipwreck,
  cannibals, treachery, etc.)
• Adventure, but within realm of possibility /
  reality
• Moral messagebut not as in Sunday School
  storiessecular morals (honesty, bravery, etc.)
• Charlotte Yonge, 1887 Boys need reading thats
  either solid, droll, or exciting . . . with
  plenty of killing.
• Not the same restrictions facing girls books

5
Victorian BoyhoodEngland

• Robustness, manliness
• Boy must learn to be part of a wholeschool,
  school house, workforce, nation, empire
• Empire grows four-fold between 1850 and 1900
• Passionate pride in empirefascination with
  exotic locales
• But adventure stories ultimately reinforce
  hegemony of British imperialism for boys
• Not a rags-to-riches culture

6
Victorian BoyhoodAmerica

• Robustness, manliness
• Celebrate individualism, industry, enterprise
• Self-reliance and entrepreneurial spirit (work)
• Boy as author of own story
• Rags-to-riches as paradigmatic story
• Utility over imagination
• Business and commercestuff of romance
• Books in names series much more common