AN ENDURING MAGIC
The Twentieth Century For children’s literature, the twentieth century starts in earnest after the first World War. The Ed- wardian period was rich in enduring novels for children, but belongs, stylistically at least to the previ- ous century. However, technological and societal advances, such as the prominance of the motor car in Wind in the Willows , mark many of these works out as being from a different age to their Victorian counterparts, so we included them in the twentieth century, albeit by way of a transition period. Three authors dominate the early part of the twentieth century. All three were inspired by telling stories to entertain particular children, rather than writing books for a general concept of children, giving their narratives an ex tempore spontaneity which doubtless contributes to their success. Beatrix Potter initially wrote The Tale of Peter Rabbit in a letter to Noel Moore, the ailing son of her governess. Some years later she borrowed the letter back to develop it into a little book. Having been unable to convince a publisher to print the book as she enisaged, she resolved to publish it herself and in De- cember 1901 had 250 copies of her book to sell and distribute amongst friends. A year later Frederick Warne, one of the publishers who had initially rejected Peter Rabbit, had second thoughts and agreed to print the book. The book has never been out of print since its publication in 1902 and it and its many successors now adorn children’s bookcases throughout the world. The Wind in the Willows began life as a series of bedtime stories told by Kenneth Grahame to his son Alastair. Upon retiring from his position as secretary of the Bank of England, Grahame turned these stories into a full length novel. The book was rejected by several publishers, in one case with the memborable reponse, “An irresponsible holiday story that will never sell.” On publication, the book was well received without being a runaway success, and was originally issued with no illustrations besides a woodcut frontispiece by Graham Robertson. This gave a blank canvas for artists and continues to inspire a range of diverse illustrators to this day. Our third author, A.A.Milne, was also inspired by stories told to his son, Christopher Robin Milne. His Winnie the Pooh books have established themselves amongst the cornerstones of children’s litera- ture. Originally published as spacefillers for Punch, these semi-fictitious accounts of his son’s adven- tures were soon augmented with drawings by Punch’s political cartoonist, E.H. Shepard. One of the great author-illustrator collaborations was born. Four Winnie the Pooh books were published between 1924 and 1928, followed by a great number of spin offs, and went on to be produced in 25 languages and sell some 75 million copes since first publication, a figure that is still increasing at a rate of 500,000 copies a year. The success of these books demonstrated to publishers that children’s books were a viable business proposition. This in turn encouraged authors to be inventive giving rise to a plethora of different sylistic branches of children’s book. The cultural move away from didactic writing was now com- plete, and children began to turn to reading as an escape from reality. This lead to an explosion of fantastical works of all types, particularly the ‘epic fantasy’, exemplified by J.R.R.Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, which although much imitated remains the standard bearer for the genre well into the twenty first century. Another prominent genre which enabled authors to fuse realisim with fantasy was the School Sto- ry. Begining in the nineteenth century with Tom Brown’s Schooldays and being ushered into the new century with the early work of P.G.Wodehouse, its structure remained broadly unchanged, merely developing to reflect the time in which the narative was set, taking in the William books of Richmal Crompton, as well as series by Enid Blyton, Eleanor Brent Dyer and Frank Richards, to name but a few, culminating with J.K.Rowling’s Harry Potter books at the end of century, whose astonishing success demonstrates the reading public’s continued appetite for that genre and children’s literature in general.
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