Catholicism and children's literature in France
The comtesse de Ségur (1799-1874)
By Sophie Heywood
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- Format: Hardcover
- ISBN: 978-0-7190-8466-9
- Pages: 232
- Price: £85.00
- Published Date: November 2011
- Series: Studies in Modern French and Francophone History
Description
This is the first book-length history of the classic French children's author, the comtesse de Ségur. Virtually unknown in the English-speaking world, in France Ségur is a national icon and a cultural phenomenon.
Generations of children have grown up reading her stories. This book combines a discussion of her life, her works, and their reception with a broader analysis of the cultural context of the mid-nineteenth century. It offers a unique insight into the political engagement of Catholic women through the medium of children's literature and education, and brings out new aspects of the history of publishing aimed at children, with particular reference to the market for books for girls.
With its lively subject matter and accessible style, this book will appeal not only to scholars of nineteenth-century France, but also to specialists and students interested in the fields of children's literature, gender studies, and religious history.
Reviews
A masterful essay...it will be impossible to claim knowledge of the comtesse de Ségur if you have not read Sophie Heywood's book
Rémi Saudray, review in Cahiers Séguriens, 10 (2012) pp. 161-167.
Heywood has made Ségur a figure of considerable interest to historians, not just biographers or literary scholars.
Sarah A. Curtis, French History, 2012
Winner of the 2012 University of Reading Research Endowment Trust Fund Best Research Output Prize
The strength of this informative and insightful book is its ability to contextualize the life story and the writings of the comtesse de Ségur without losing sight of the complexities that both present. Neither Ségur's life nor her writings were always consistent, yet in showing how they intersected with new ideas about childhood, a militant Catholic revival, new publishing strategies, and shifting notions of gender, Heywood hasmade Ségur a figure of considerable interest to historians, not just biographers or literary scholars.
Sarah A. Curtis, French History, vol 26, no 4, December 2012
Awards
2012
Research Endowment Trust Fund Best Research Output Prize
Contents
List of abbreviations
List of illustrations
Introduction
1. Life stories
2. Nobles, saints, and delinquents: constructions of childhood in the collected works of Madame de Ségur
3. The tribulations of an author: writing, censorship and the reading public under the Second Empire
4. The comtesse and the culture wars
5. Model girls and divine women: reading the comtesse de Ségur
Conclusion
Appendix I: The collected works of the comtesse de Ségur
Appendix II: Editions
Select bibliography
Index
Author
Sophie Heywood is Lecturer in French at the University of Reading.
Related Books
Catholicism and children's literature in France
By Sophie Heywood
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