Microsoft Word final-current Developments at the Intersection of British Children-online-version doc

Tale
for a Land-Baby. In the novel, a precursor of the subgenre of modern British “Christian 
fantasy”, Kingsley blends contemporary Victorian attitudes with his own, personal views on 
culture, society and education, touching on fairy tale, philosophy and biology. His children’s 
book serves as a vessel for his discussion of a post-Darwinian revaluation of the Christian 
belief in the wake of evolution theory. On the basis of the fate of the chimney sweep Tom, 
representative of innumerable children cruelly abused by adults, Kingsley denounces child 
11
Ibd., p. 2. 
12
Thwaite, From Primer to Pleasure, p. 64.
13
Carpenter, Secret Gardens, preface. 
14
Clute; Grant, The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, p. 540. 

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labour.
15
Marking a transition between past traditions and the gradual introduction of new 
concepts, the author combines old and new elements in his novel, paired with philosophical 
depth and intuitive understanding of the basic fears of the child. Thus in line with the spirit of 
the time, Kingsley’s novel influenced many later children’s authors in intention and style. 
Despite his modern interest in social issues, the author adheres to the then still traditional 
convention of open moralising.
Two years later, in 1865, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson’s (1832-1898) revolutionary 
novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland appeared, making a deep impact on children’s 
fantasy. The dream fantasies
16
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its 1872 sequel Through 
The Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There
soon became all-time children’s classics. In 
the wake of Edward Lear’s Book of Nonsense (1842), Dodgson alias Lewis Carroll created 
one of the “earliest works for children to be written for the entertainment and delight of the 
child rather than for instruction and improvement.”
17
One of the reasons for the Alice novels 
to reach bestselling status was their intentional apparent purposelessness. In contrast to 
Kingsley’s The Water-Babies Carroll’s works were seemingly free of moralising undertones. 
Already aimed at by Kingsley, this concept was perfectly implemented by Carroll and quickly 
gained universal acceptance among authors and readers. 
What makes the two Alice novels so special is their complexity. Superficially, more or 
less loosely joined episodes describe the fantastic adventures of a little girl in Wonderland and 
in the Looking-Glass land. As soon as she enters these worlds, all fixed concepts such as 
physical laws, moral and social codes, but also meaning and chronology of time can no longer 
be relied on. Points of reference become
slippery, eluding Alice’s and the reader’s grasp by 
means of constant transformation. Every attempt at making sense of what is said or done has 
to fail. Paths lead into nowhere, grins exist without any cats behind them and free seats are all 
taken. This intentional deconstruction or deliberate non-use of traditional forms of storytelling 
in children’s fantasy is Carroll’s main contribution to the development of the genre. Due to 
the reversal of forms of storytelling, conventional reading methods can no longer be applied, 
either. Both novels thus prove a challenge, asking the reader to leave common ground and 
reason behind and to enter this new world of wonder without reservation. Throughout the two 
15
Bernice E. Cullinan; Diane G. Person (Eds.) The Continuum Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature. New 
York: London: Continuum, 2001, p. 442. 
16
Clute; Grant, The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, p. 169. 
17
Victor Watson (Ed.) The Cambridge Guide to Children’s Books in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University 
Press, 2001, p. 20. 

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works, Carroll constantly toys with the readers. Adults and children suddenly find themselves 
on the same level: The adults have to throw their accumulated reading experiences over 
board, whereas the children have not yet acquired many of their own yet, still trying to make 
sense of their own world. Under the cloak of silly adventures in a topsy-turvy world, the 
author confronts the reader with essential questions about the nature “of identity: what forms 
it, whether it is a thing externally constructed by society, its categories, rules and behavioural 
patterns, or something that is internally made.”
18
According to Watson, the novels examine 
“how identity is affected when the usual rules governing the individual are removed.”
19
As 
soon as Alice leaves her ordered “real” world by falling through the rabbit hole or by entering 
a mirror, she literally loses the ground under her feet. With all reference points invalid, the 
girl is threatened with the loss of her own identity – a central concern of fantasy literature for 
children. “Who am I?” “What makes me special?” “What defines me in relation to other 
beings?” Those are questions every young person is confronted with when growing up, and 
they still apply to adults. By means of estrangement, the fantastic elements in Alice show 
identity conflicts reflected on a magic plane, and can thus facilitate the finding of solutions for 
the everyday world.
 
Exposed to changeability and impermanence,
20
Alice’s own identity 
becomes the last bastion, permanently threatened by annihilation. Remarkably, the girl never 
changes in essence, even if her physical body undergoes the strangest transformations. Amidst 
all instability, consistency does exist. For example, the mathematician Carroll based the 
chaotic, nonsensical worlds with their exotic inhabitants on two logical principles: Volume 
One is modelled on a game of cards, and Volume Two on a chess game. When a cake gets 
distributed and eaten before being cut, the actions are reversed, but still correspond. Their 
reversal challenges the reader to view everyday-experiences from an unusual angle. Even 
today, Carroll’s alienation effects have not lost their actuality – this very “trick” is still being 
used in modern children’s fantasy.
21
With Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through The Looking-Glass, Carroll 
introduced a variety of innovations into British children’s fantasy, pointing the way to the 
future: A new openness and playfulness, no discernible educational aims, apparently no moral 
messages and a literary nonsense-world populated by timeless, immortal characters. Alice’s 
18
Watson, The Cambridge Guide, p. 20. 
19
Ibd., p. 21. 
20
Ibd. 
21
Contemporary author Terry Pratchett happily employs this strategy in his Discworld novels, too.

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quest for meaning and identity sparkles with word puns and innuendos, twisted words and 
meanings, situational humour and talk at cross-purposes, so that both content and form 
challenge the reader. Carroll’s nonsense poems are famous, and the fantastic characters of the 
novels are unforgettable. This is why the magical appeal of the two Alice books has attracted 
many a later author, for example Dahl. Even today, the “matter of Alice” has not ceased to 
inspire modern re-workings.