Dissertations of Note
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Armstrong focuses on The Magic City because of its emblematic representation of the "complex world of E. Nesbit's narrative, a world centered upon and integrated by the child. . . ." The author analyzes Nesbit's magic tales, their narrative form, her employment of fairy-tale plotting, "The Book of Beasts," dreams, religious encounters, utopian visions, and preeminently, "the alienation of the child and the adult in Nesbit." Chapter VII, the final one, is devoted to The Enchanted Castle.
The major issue of Cornelison's dissertation is "can and should the topic of death be openly and honestly presented to children in their drama?" Chapter I is an introduction to the methodology of the dissertation; Chapter II "explores the child's concept of death through a review of appropriate scientific writings and documents," Chapter III culls ideas from critical literature in education, psychology, psychiatry, theology, and medicine "to construct a societal view of death in relationship to the child." Chapter IV reviews critical works on the subject of death in children's literature; Chapter V analyzes the attitudes of children's theatre people; Chapter VI analyzes the topic in terms of typical children's plays; and Chapter VII "considers atypical approaches in children's drama." The author concludes that the topic of death can and should be "openly and honestly presented to children in their drama."
Although Gibson's dissertation is concerned primarily with the literature of Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Defoe, Smollet, Richardson, and Fielding, Chapter Five, the final one, is devoted exclusively to literature written for children in the eighteenth century—literature which had grown in popularity and importance during the century. "This chapter considers possible reasons for the development of the two genres [adult and child fiction] at this time, and it examines the similarities and differences between attitudes toward and depiction of children in literature written for them and those in literature written for adults." [End Page 267]
Jones primarily discusses the simultaneous emergence of the dime-novel western and the stereotyped western hero who "as the guardian of the future, whether backwoodsman, plainsman, cowboy, or noble outlaw. . . . , was a personification of the ideal world, a hybrid character who reconciled the popularly cherished values of the civilized East with the equally cherished values of the wilderness West." Jones analyzes the conventional plots, the traditional romances, the use of quest themes, and the general popularity of dime-novel westerns for both an adult and a child audience.
Kraus' dissertation is a survey of the literature written for girls between the ages of twelve and seventeen and published since 1969. He feels that this contemporary body of literature contains more "sophisticated subject matter and maturer themes," than the earlier works of authors like Rosamond du Jardin and Betty Cavanna. For Kraus, "adolescent-girl problem novels" contain as heroine "a girl still in some stage of physical growth and maturation who must cope with serious problems such as sexual identity, pregnancy, racial conflict, mental illness or physical handicaps, and drugs." Twenty-one representative novels were selected for the survey, and the author concludes that "this transitional period in adolescent fiction will be viewed [in later years] as a truly revolutionary turning point in adolescent fiction."
Landford's dissertation is a thorough analysis of David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, and Great Expectations. He notes that...
