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Authors: Edith Nesbit

Enchanted Castle and Five Children and It (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (62 page)

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The Magic
City. 1910. New York: Seastar Books, 2000. The adventures of two children inside their own toy city.

The Wonderful Garden.
1911. New York: Coward-McCann, 1959. Three children find and plant the seeds of Heart’s Desire.

The
Magic World. 1912. London: Puffin Books, 1994. A collection of twelve stories.

Wet Magic.
1913. New York: Seastar Books, 2001. Four children help the Merfolk in their struggle against the Underfolk.

Long Ago When I
Was Young. 1966. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1991. A series of childhood reminiscences originally published as “My School-Days” in
The Girl’s Own Paper,
October 1896-September 1897.

Biography

Briggs, Julia.
A Woman of
Passion: The
Life of E. Nesbit,
1858-1924. 1987. New York: New Amsterdam Books, 2000. A thorough update of Moore’s biography with edifying commentary on Nesbit’s works.

Moore, Doris Langley.
E. Nesbit: A Biography.
1933. Revised edition. London: Ernest Benn, 1967. Based on extensive interviews with and letters from Nesbit’s family and other acquaintances.

Criticism and Contexts

Bell, Anthea.
E. Nesbit.
1960. New York: H. Z. Walck, 1964. A succinct overview of her life and works.

Carpenter, Humphrey.
Secret Gardens: A Study of the Golden Age of Children’s
Literature. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1985. An account of the Anglo-American tradition from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century. The sharply critical chapter on Nesbit questions both her originality and the value of her influence.

Crouch, Marcus.
Treasure Seekers and Borrowers:
Children’s
Books in Britain,
1900-1960. London: Library Association, 1962. An informative survey that identifies Nesbit as a central figure in the modern British tradition and credits her with reshaping the family story, the fantasy novel, and the historical romance.

———
The
Nesbit Tradition:
The Children’s Novel in England,
1945-1970. London: Ernest Benn, 1972. An overview that emphasizes Nesbit’s enduring influence on English children’s fiction.

Knoepflmacher, U. C. “Of Babylands and Babylons: E. Nesbit and the Reclamation of the Fairy Tale.”
Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature
6:2 (Fall 1987), pp. 299-325. A probing essay that uses Nesbit’s autobiographical writings (primarily
Long Ago When I Was Young)
to explore some of the psychological conflicts in her major fiction. Lochhead, Marion.
Renaissance of Wonder: The Fantasy Worlds of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, George MacDonald, E. Nesbit and Others.
San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1977. A historical survey with a chapter devoted to Nesbit.

Manlove, Colin N.
From Alice to Harry Potter: Children’s Fantasy in England.
Christchurch, New Zealand: Cybereditions, 2003. An illuminating tour of the fantasy tradition from the mid-nineteenth century to the present.

Nelson, Claudia.
Boys Will Be Girls: The Feminine Ethic and British Children’s Fiction,
1857-1917. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1991. An analysis of the sanctification of childhood and related changes in gender ideals in the fiction of the era.

Nicholson, Mervyn. “What C. S. Lewis Took from E. Nesbit.”
Children’s Literature Association Quarterly
16 (1991), pp. 16-22. An essay that examines the influence of Nesbit’s fantasies on the plot, character, and narrative voice of Lewis’s
The Chronicles of Narnia,
with an analysis of the sections most heavily indebted to her works.

Nikolajeva, Maria.
Children’s Literature Comes of Age: Toward a New Aesthetic.
New York: Garland, 1996. A sophisticated and wide-ranging study that identifies Nesbit as “the key figure of modern fantasy” (p. 159) and highlights her appropriation of other literature from traditional folktales to the novels of H. G. Wells.

Prickett, Stephen.
Victorian
Fantasy. Hassocks, Sussex: Harvester, 1979. A standard work on the period that concludes with a chapter on Kipling and Nesbit.

Streatfeild, Noel.
Magic and the Magician: E. Nesbit and Her Children’s Books.
New York: Abelard Schumann, 1958. A book-length appreciation by a well-known author of children’s literature.

Rented one-horse carriage.

British magicians John Nevil Maskelyne (1839-1917) and George A. Cooke (1825-1904) ran a famous theater, the Egyptian Hall, in London. After Cooke’s death, David Devant (1868-1941) became Maskelyne’s partner (see The Enchanted Castle, p. 221).

Limekiln: kiln in which limestone is heated in order to extract lime; oasthouse: building containing an oast, a kiln for drying hops.

Type of northern swallow that lives in tunnels in day or sand banks.

Type of eucalyptus tree native to Australia.

The Australian emu bird provided the logo for “Emu Brand” knitting wool.

Spanish gold coin; no longer in use.

Nesbit derived this term for “Sand-fairy” from the Greek psammos (sand) and the names naiad (water nymph) and dryad (wood nymph) of Greek mythology.

Elephant-size sloths that became extinct at the end of the last Ice Age, about 11, 000 years ago.

Sleeveless, apron-like garment worn over other clothing.

Prank in which bedsheets are doubled up, like an apple turnover, so that a person cannot stretch out her legs under them.

Breakfast (slang).

Small town in Kent, east of London.

Canopy.

June 24, the day on which the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, is traditionally celebrated.

Gold coins once used in England.

Loose-fitting jackets, sometimes part of a suit with knee breeches.

Tree; member of the birch family.

English gold coins worth 21 shillings; not minted since 1813.

Imitation coins used as stakes in card games.

Quickly.

Carriage with horses, harness, and driver.

Twopence; sum equal to two British pennies.

I’ll guarantee (slang).

Worthless or contemptible person.

Lord love me (dialect).

Soot.

Chimney (dialect).

Barrier used in nurseries to restrict children’s movements.

Worthless (slang).

To proceed in lines of four.

Reference to “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears,” a line from Shakespeare’s
Julius Caesar
(act 3, scene 2).

Term of endearment.

Sand flea.

Large English chicken.

Leave; clear out (slang).

Term of endearment for a child.

Tributary of the River Thames that divides the county of Kent.

Books in which documents are printed for pupils to imitate.

Offspring of Sennacherib, king (705-681 B.C.) of the Assyrian Empire, who rebuilt its largest city, Nineveh. He was slain by one, or possibly two, of his sons.

Literally, other times, other customs (French); that is, times change, customs change.

Molasses.

Room for storing food.

John Churchill (1650-1722), celebrated for his victory over France in the Battle of Blenheim (1704).

Much talk with insignificant results.

Term for the younger of two people with the same surname.

Major campaign (1808-1814) on the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars.

King of England from 1625 until 1649; he was executed after the defeat of his forces in the English Civil Wars.

The second ( 1147-1149) in the series of campaigns to wrest the Holy Land from Muslim control.

Helmets from the era of Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), who led the Puritan rebellion against Charles I and ruled as lord protector from 1653 until his death.

Harm.

Shrub with laxative properties.

Often spelled gramercy; an expression of gratitude (archaic).

Also (archaic).

Grate or grille, made of wood or iron and suspended by chains; designed to be lowered for quick fortification against assault.

Merry-go-round.

Loop or coil.