Infant Tongues: The Voice of the Child in Literature

by Elizabeth Goodenough (Editor)

Using a variety of critical approaches and disciplines, Infant Tongues examine the representation of children in literarture from the Renaissance to the present. Covering texts written in English, French, German, Russian, and Hebrew, this collection of essays looks at the child's voice and consciousness in adult and juvenile fiction and in writing by children. It illustrates that in literary works, although children's voices do indeed energize adult writing, often their voices have been mediated, modified, or appropriated by adult writers.
In their discussion of works by Shakespeare, Rimbauld, Woolf, Tolstoy, and others, the authors explore numerous topics, includimg problems in the imitation of speech and dialect, uses of narrative voice, the creative development of child writers, and shifting cultural conceptions of childhood.

331 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994