Beverly Lyon Clark's Books

The Afterlife of "Little Women"

By: Beverly Lyon Clark

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The Afterlife of "Little Women"

By: Beverly Lyon Clark

Written in an accessible narrative style, The Afterlife of Little Women speaks to scholars, librarians, and devoted Alcott fans.

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Page Count

284

Publisher

JHU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1421415585

ISBN 13

9781421415581

Kiddie Lit

The Cultural Construction of Children's Literature in America

By: Beverly Lyon Clark

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Kiddie Lit

The Cultural Construction of Children's Literature in America

By: Beverly Lyon Clark

Honor Book for the 2005 Book Award given by the Children's Literature Association The popularity of the Harry Potter books among adults and the critical acclaim these young adult fantasies have received may seem like a novel literary phenomenon. In the nineteenth century, however, readers considered both Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn as works of literature equally for children and adults; only later was the former relegated to the category of "boys' books" while the latter, even as it was canonized, came frequently to be regarded as unsuitable for young readers. Adults—women and men—wept over Little Women. And America's most prestigious literary journals regularly reviewed books written for both children and their parents. This egalitarian approach to children's literature changed with the emergence of literary studies as a scholarly discipline at the turn of the twentieth century. Academics considered children's books an inferior literature and beneath serious consideration. In Kiddie Lit, Beverly Lyon Clark explores the marginalization of children's literature in America—and its recent possible reintegration—both within the academy and by the mainstream critical establishment. Tracing the reception of works by Mark Twain, Louisa May Alcott, Lewis Carroll, Frances Hodgson Burnett, L. Frank Baum, Walt Disney, and J. K. Rowling, Clark reveals fundamental shifts in the assessment of the literary worth of books beloved by both children and adults, whether written for boys or girls. While uncovering the institutional underpinnings of this transition, Clark also attributes it to changing American attitudes toward childhood itself, a cultural resistance to the intrinsic value of childhood expressed through sentimentality, condescension, and moralizing. Clark's engaging and enlightening study of the critical disregard for children's books since the end of the nineteenth century—which draws on recent scholarship in gender, cultural, and literary studies— offers provocative new insights into the history of both children's literature and American literature in general, and forcefully argues that the books our children read and love demand greater respect.

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Page Count

286

Publisher

JHU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0801881706

ISBN 13

9780801881701

Kiddie Lit

The Cultural Construction of Children's Literature in America

By: Beverly Lyon Clark

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Kiddie Lit

The Cultural Construction of Children's Literature in America

By: Beverly Lyon Clark

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Page Count

286

Publisher

JHU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0801881706

ISBN 13

9780801881701

The Afterlife of "Little Women"

By: Beverly Lyon Clark

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The Afterlife of "Little Women"

By: Beverly Lyon Clark

“Superb, scrupulously researched . . . a comprehensive narrative for understanding the changing reception of Little Women.” —Gregory Eiselein, coeditor of The Louisa May Alcott Encyclopedia The hit Broadway show of 1912. The lost film of 1919. Katharine Hepburn, as Jo, sliding down a banister in George Cukor’s 1933 movie. Mark English’s shimmering 1967 illustrations. Jo—this time played by Sutton Foster—belting “I'll be / astonishing” in the 2004 Broadway musical flop. These are only some of the markers of the afterlife of Little Women. There’s also the nineteenth-century child who wrote, “If you do not ...make Laurie marry Beth, I will never read another of your books as long as I live.” Not to mention Miss Manners, a Little Women devotee, who announced that the book taught her an important life lesson: “Although it’s very nice to have two clean gloves, it’s even more important to have a little ink on your fingers.” In The Afterlife of Little Women, Beverly Lyon Clark, a leading authority on children’s literature, maps the reception of Louisa May Alcott’s timeless novel, first published in 1868. Clark divides her discussion into four historical periods. The first covers the novel’s publication and massive popularity in the late nineteenth century. In the second era—the first three decades of the twentieth century—the novel becomes a nostalgic icon of the domesticity of a previous century, while losing status among the literary and scholarly elite. In its mid-century afterlife, from 1930-1960, Little Women reaches a low in terms of its critical reputation but remains a well-known piece of Americana within popular culture. The book concludes with a long chapter on Little Women’s afterlife from the 1960s to the present, a period in which the reading of the book seems to decline, while scholarly attention expands dramatically and popular echoes continue to proliferate. Drawing on letters and library records as well as reviews, plays, operas, film and television adaptations, spinoff novels, translations, Alcott biographies, and illustrations, Clark demonstrates how the novel resonates with both conservative family values and progressive feminist ones. She grounds her story in criticism of children’s literature, book history, cultural studies, feminist criticism, and adaptation studies—in a book that is “fascinating, cover-to-cover, for the many readers of Little Women still out there, whether scholar or generally interested fan” (Studies in the Novel).

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Page Count

437

Publisher

Johns Hopkins University Press+ORM

Published Date

ISBN 10

1421415593

ISBN 13

9781421415598

Regendering the School Story

Sassy Sissies and Tattling Tomboys

By: Beverly Lyon Clark

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Regendering the School Story

Sassy Sissies and Tattling Tomboys

By: Beverly Lyon Clark

First published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

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Page Count

307

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1135581584

ISBN 13

9781135581589

Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1805-1942

By: Beverly Rae Kimes

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Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1805-1942

By: Beverly Rae Kimes

This new revised and updated edition is the ultimate buyer's/seller's/user's guide for American automobiles manufactured from 1805 to 1942. With more than 5,000 photos and histories of cars and their companies written by one of America's most respected automotive historians, this is the most extensive automobile reference available.

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Page Count

1616

Published Date

ISBN 10

0873414284

ISBN 13

9780873414289

Cinematherapy for Lovers

The Girl's Guide to Finding True Love One Movie at a Time

By: Nancy K. Peske,Beverly West

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Cinematherapy for Lovers

The Girl's Guide to Finding True Love One Movie at a Time

By: Nancy K. Peske,Beverly West

Whether a single girl looking for love, a wanna-be girlfriend looking for commitment, or a married woman looking to put some spark back in the marriage, "Cinematherapy For Lovers" has the perfect movie to help put readers on the road to real-life happily ever after.

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Page Count

258

Publisher

Delta

Published Date

ISBN 10

0440509270

ISBN 13

9780440509271

Beverly Clark's for My Bridesmaid

By: Beverly Clark

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Beverly Clark's for My Bridesmaid

By: Beverly Clark

This miniature quote book is an ode to bridal attendants. Lush, full-color photographs and poignant quotes celebrate the sisterhood of those chosen to stand by the bride on her wedding day. The perfect present for every bridesmaid.

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Page Count

126

Publisher

Running Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0762406275

ISBN 13

9780762406272

Book's by Beverly Lyon Clark

The Afterlife of "Little Women"

The Afterlife of "Little Women"

Kiddie Lit

Kiddie Lit

Kiddie Lit

Kiddie Lit

The Afterlife of "Little Women"

The Afterlife of "Little Women"

Regendering the School Story

Regendering the School Story

Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1805-1942

Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1805-1942

Cinematherapy for Lovers

Cinematherapy for Lovers

Beverly Clark's for My Bridesmaid

Beverly Clark's for My Bridesmaid

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