![]() | Men in Wonderland: The Lost Girlhood of the Victorian Gentleman Subjects: English literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism; Girls in literature; English literature -- Male authors -- History and criticism; Carroll Lewis 1832–1898 -- Characters -- Girls; Ruskin John 1819-1900 -- Characters -- Girls; Innocence (Psy; Fascination with little girls pervaded Victorian culture. For many, girls represented the true essence of childhood or bygone times of innocence; but for middle-class men, especially writers, the interest ran much deeper. In Men in Wonderland , Catherine Robson explores the ways in which various nineteenth-century British male authors constructed girlhood, and analyzes the nature of their investment in the figure of the girl. In so doing, she reveals the link between the idealization of little girls and a widespread fantasy of male development--a myth suggesting that men become masculine only after an initial feminine stage, lived out in the protective environment of the nursery. Little girls, argues Robson, thus offer an adult male the best opportunity to reconnect with his own lost self. Catherine Robson is Assistant Professor of English at the University of California, Davis, where she specializes in nineteenth-century British literature and culture. She is also a faculty member of the University of California Dickens Project. |
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