Cultural Perspectives : Journal for Literary and British Cultural Studies in Romania

This monographic issue deals with the presence of history in children's literature. Contributors have investigated the tradition of historical fiction for children from the nineteenth into the twentieth century. History in children's literature has served the construction of cultural identity from the very beginning: contributors have empahasized the royalist bias of Captain Marryatt, the version of history provided by Dickens, the imperial ideology promoted by Henty and several adaptations of Shakespeare's dramas. Contributors have focused on the two world wars of the previous century which have spawned many books, and a critical reconsideration of the genre. Illustrations play a specific role, as cultural signifiers both for Iuliucci and Negri; tthe difficulty of war refugees and their burden of memories has been dealt with by Canani. Peter Hunt provides a panoramic view of the matter in contemporary years, and Rose questions the didactic potential of history as a subject in Bennett's drama.