The Child Reader and the Birth of Children's Literature

儿童读者与儿童文学的诞生

• 批准号: AH/F002173/1
• 负责人: Matthew Grenby
• 金额: $ 3.74万
• 依托单位: Newcastle University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2008 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FF002173%2F1
• 关键词: Child; Reader; Birth; Children; Literature

It is generally accepted that modern children's literature began in Britain, and in the mid-18th century. What is not known is why this happened. Entrepreneurs such as John Newbery pioneered new kinds of texts from the 1740s, but their ventures could not have succeeded without a receptive audience. This project investigates these consumers of the first modern children's books, asking who they were, how they used the books, and how they understood the new commodity that was being produced for them. By considering these questions, the project will enable a much fuller understanding of why children's literature emerged when, where and how it did.Children's ownership and usage of books is extremely difficult to determine. They leave few records of their purchasing, behaviour or attitudes. Most accounts necessarily present adults' views of how children were supposed to think and behave. To get round this, several original methodologies have been developed for this project. They are based on a full survey of three of the most important collections of pre-1840 British children's books, in Toronto, Los Angeles and Princeton.First, the inscriptions in these 5000 children's books have been fully surveyed. The names inscribed have been researched using censuses and parish registers. This has enabled some sophisticated statistical profiling of the early consumers of children's books in terms of age, gender and location, and even religion and class. The analysis reveals, for the first time, whether boys or girls owned more books (and of which types), and whether early children's literature was (as has been assumed) the preserve of the urban middle classes. Inscriptions can also indicate how many books individual children owned, and whether books were purchased, inherited, borrowed, or received as prizes or gifts (and from whom). Knowing how children acquired books is key to understanding how children's literature came to be established as a viable commercial product.Second, the plentiful marginalia in 18th-century children's books has been surveyed. Often unconnected with the text itself, much of this is delightful, giving a unique insight into responses to, and contexts of, reading. Although almost always overlooked, even the smallest marginal marks reveal much about modes of use. Scribbled notes can show whether a book was read at home or in school, freely or under supervision, aloud or silently, learned by rote or read for fun. Inconspicuous pencil crosses, sometimes dated, can show how quickly a child completed a book (or not), and whether reading sessions were strictly regulated.Taken together, such 'extra-textual' marks give a much more objective indication of how consumers regarded early children's books than can more traditional kinds of evidence. Diaries or memoirs, for instance, are scarce and unreliable. This project will consider them alongside the new data, plus other textual and pictorial depictions of children reading. By comparing representations of children's reading as it was supposed to be with the more 'forensic' evidence of children's actual book use, the project will establish whether children's and adults' ideas of the purposes and proprieties of literature concurred or conflicted.In pioneering these new methodologies this project will make a significant contribution to the emerging field of book history. It will lay the foundations for the first in-depth study of the birth of children's literature. It will also provide a wonderful insight into the lives of 18th-century children, bringing to light their unguarded comments and absent-minded doodles. We will also be able to see how independent children were in the running of their lives. Did they select and purchase their books, and use them in the ways that they, not their parents or teachers, wished? In other words, even once children's literature had begun,did children really have a literature of their own?

人们普遍认为，现代儿童文学起源于18世纪中期的英国。目前尚不清楚为什么会发生这种情况。约翰·纽伯里（John Newbery）等企业家从18世纪40年代开始开创了新型文本，但如果没有接受他们的读者，他们的冒险就不可能成功。这个项目调查了这些第一批现代儿童书籍的消费者，询问他们是谁，他们如何使用这些书，以及他们如何理解为他们生产的新商品。通过考虑这些问题，该项目将使人们更全面地了解儿童文学出现的时间、地点和方式。儿童对书籍的所有权和使用情况极难确定。他们很少留下购买、行为或态度的记录。大多数描述必然呈现出成年人对孩子应该如何思考和行为的看法。为了解决这个问题，已经为这个项目开发了几种原始的方法。它们是基于对多伦多、洛杉矶和普林斯顿三处最重要的1840年前英国儿童藏书的全面调查得出的。首先，对这5000本童书中的碑文进行了全面的调查。这些名字是通过人口普查和教区登记册进行研究的。这使得对儿童书籍的早期消费者进行一些复杂的统计分析成为可能，这些消费者包括年龄、性别和地点，甚至宗教和阶级。该分析首次揭示了男孩还是女孩拥有更多的书（以及哪种类型的书），以及早期儿童文学是否（如人们所假设的那样）是城市中产阶级的专利。铭文还可以表明每个孩子拥有多少书，以及书是购买的、继承的、借来的，还是作为奖品或礼物收到的（以及从谁那里收到的）。了解儿童如何获得书籍是理解儿童文学如何成为一种可行的商业产品的关键。其次，对18世纪儿童书籍中大量的旁注进行了调查。虽然通常与文本本身无关，但其中很多都令人愉快，让人对阅读的反应和语境有了独特的见解。尽管几乎总是被忽视，但即使是最小的边缘标记也能揭示出许多使用方式。潦草的笔记可以显示一本书是在家里还是在学校读的，是自由阅读还是在监督下读的，是大声朗读还是默读的，是死记硬背还是为了好玩而读的。不显眼的铅笔划线，有时是有日期的，可以显示一个孩子多快完成了一本书，以及阅读时间是否受到严格规定。总的来说，这种“文本外”的标记比传统的证据更能客观地表明消费者是如何看待早期儿童书籍的。例如，日记或回忆录既稀少又不可靠。本项目将考虑这些新数据，以及其他儿童阅读的文字和图片描述。通过比较儿童阅读的表现和儿童实际使用书籍的“法医”证据，该项目将确定儿童和成人对文学目的和性质的看法是一致的还是冲突的。在开创这些新方法的过程中，该项目将对新兴的图书历史领域做出重大贡献。这将为第一次深入研究儿童文学的诞生奠定基础。它还将为18世纪儿童的生活提供一个精彩的视角，揭露他们毫无防备的评论和心不在焉的涂鸦。我们还可以看到孩子们在生活中是如何独立的。他们是否选择和购买他们的书，并以他们自己，而不是他们的父母或老师所希望的方式使用它们？换句话说，即使儿童文学开始了，孩子们真的有他们自己的文学吗？

项目成果

The Child Reader 1700-1840

儿童读者 1700-1840

• 发表时间: 2011
• 作者: Grenby, MO