Exploited, Empowered, Ephemeral

Childhood in neo-Victorian fiction for both child and adult readers is an extremely multifaceted and fascinating field. This book argues that neo-Victorian fiction projects multiple, competing visions of childhood and suggests that they can be analysed by means of a typology, the 'childhood scale', which provides different categories along the lines of power relations, and literary possible-worlds theory. The usefulness of both is exemplified by detailed discussions of Philippa Pearce's 'Tom's Midnight Garden' (1958), Eva Ibbotson's 'Journey to the River Sea' (2001), Sarah Waters' 'Fingersmith' (2002) and Dianne Setterfield's 'The Thirteenth Tale' (2006).

Dr. Denise Burkhard ist Dozentin an der Universität Bonn, wo sie auch promoviert hat. Neben Neo-Victorian Studies umfassen ihre Forschungsgebiete britische Literatur des 19. Jahrhunderts, historische Fiktion, Kinder und Jugendliteratur und Adaptation Studies.