Reading Childhood: Collections, Texts, and Visions of Play in the British Country House c.1780-1914

阅读童年：英国乡间别墅的收藏、文本和游戏愿景，c.1780-1914

• 批准号: 2878512
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2878512
• 关键词: Reading; Childhood; Collections; Texts; Visions

Through a research project grounded in practical investigation into the understudied book collections housed in National Trust properties, I am exploring play and playfulness in reading behaviour during the development of reader identity from childhood to adulthood. The project will interrogate the relationships between play and seriousness, leisure and professionalised habits, and children and adults in nineteenth-century history of reading. In consideration of the frequent categorisation in heritage institutions of children's books alongside toys, a survey of book titles and evidenced reading activity in these collections will contribute to thinking about the boundary (or age) at which books are no longer considered toys; when reading is no longer considered a form of play. I look to define 'playful' reading behaviour, to challenge the derogatory rather than celebratory perception of 'childish' behaviour and, ultimately, to contribute to the history of reading through connecting literary studies with the discipline of Library and Information Science.Whilst examining the immense pleasures and riches of play in childhood reading, it occurs to me that there is a simultaneous effect of this greater distinction between leisure and work on adults' reading habits and engagement; if a child is not an adult, play is not work, and childhood is so distinct from adulthood, is it possible to achieve playful reading in later life? This trajectory and the process of aging as a reader will be of great interest in conversations of class, wealth and privilege while researching various National Trust collections, asking how the freedom to play will look for those of comfortable means while also considering the economic pressure around success and inheritance in such families to explore what children's reading looks like that isn't necessarily playful, and conversely how the reading behaviour of the labouring classes in country estate environments compares. Situating the books in their library spaces in the country houses, beyond the literary and material study of the individual items the library will also be considered as a form of adult playroom. Offering a perspective of the library as an adult playroom where other hobbies and pursuits of leisure occur - socialising, sewing, games, smoking - allows for consideration of the adult's nostalgia and craving for joy in the library. For the children of a country house witnessing such adulthood, what influence does this have on their thinking about the place of reading in their lives? The work will first take the shape of hands-on bibliographical research into the children's books within the collection, seeking evidence of engagement through marginalia, markings and wear-and-tear signifying play. Playing with the Book: Victorian Movable Picture Books and the Child Reader by Hannah Field (2019) will serve as a central aid in the historical aspect of this research, with the idea that nineteenth-century children's literature brought children's awareness to the materiality of books - 'they embody reading' - leading to further questions of what this means for a child's thinking about reading, and the development of their identity as a reader. Comparative analyses on the basis of the content of certain books in the collection itself will also allow me to think about the representation of libraries and childhood reading alongside the historical evidence found in the property, and to consider adult perspectives on children's reading. By centring this project on childhood and play, I endeavour to uncover the seriousness of their impact on the life of a reader.

通过一个基于对国家信托财产中的待研究藏书进行实际调查的研究项目，我正在探索从童年到成年的读者身份发展过程中阅读行为的游戏性和趣味性。该项目将探讨十九世纪阅读史上游戏与严肃、休闲与专业习惯以及儿童与成人之间的关系。考虑到遗产机构经常将儿童书籍与玩具一起分类，对这些藏品中的书名和有证据的阅读活动进行调查将有助于思考书籍不再被视为玩具的界限（或年龄）；当阅读不再被视为一种游戏形式时。我希望定义“有趣的”阅读行为，挑战对“幼稚”行为的贬义而不是赞扬的看法，并最终通过将文学研究与图书馆和信息科学学科联系起来，为阅读的历史做出贡献。童年阅读给我带来了巨大的乐趣和丰富的乐趣，但我突然想到，休闲和工作之间的这种更大的区别同时也会影响成年人的阅读习惯和参与度；如果孩子不是成年人，玩耍不是工作，童年与成年如此不同，那么在以后的生活中是否有可能实现玩耍的阅读呢？作为一名读者，这种轨迹和衰老的过程将对阶级、财富和特权的对话产生极大的兴趣，同时研究各种国民信托收藏，询问那些拥有舒适手段的人将如何获得玩耍的自由，同时也考虑到周围的经济压力我们通过这些家庭的成功和传承来探索孩子们的阅读是什么样子的，但不一定是有趣的，反过来也比较了乡村环境中劳动阶级的阅读行为。将书籍放置在乡村别墅的图书馆空间中，除了对单个物品进行文学和材料研究之外，图书馆还将被视为成人游戏室的一种形式。将图书馆视为一个成人游戏室，在那里可以进行其他爱好和休闲活动——社交、缝纫、游戏、吸烟——考虑到成年人对图书馆的怀旧和对快乐的渴望。对于那些见证这样的成年生活的乡间别墅的孩子来说，这对他们思考阅读在生活中的地位有何影响？这项工作首先将采取对馆藏中的儿童读物进行实践书目研究的形式，通过旁注、标记和象征游戏的磨损来寻找参与的证据。汉娜·菲尔德（Hannah Field）的《玩书：维多利亚时代的可移动图画书和儿童读物》（2019）将成为这项研究历史方面的核心辅助工具，其理念是十九世纪的儿童文学让儿童意识到书籍的物质性- “它们体现了阅读” - 引发了进一步的问题：这对孩子对阅读的思考以及他们作为读者身份的发展意味着什么。基于馆藏中某些书籍内容本身的比较分析也将使我能够思考图书馆和儿童阅读的代表性以及在财产中发现的历史证据，并考虑成人对儿童阅读的看法。通过以童年和游戏为中心的这个项目，我努力揭示它们对读者生活影响的严重性。