Routledge Toying with Childhood by Routledge - Academic History Book

Explore the complex relationship between children and toys through this academic study. Toying with Childhood examines how literary depictions of childhood in 19th and 20th-century Anglo-American fiction shape our understanding of the child-toy bond. This text traces the movement of childhood ideals from Britain to America and their subsequent dissemination in British India. By applying psychoanalytic theories from experts like Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud, D.W. Winnicott, and Sudhir Kakar, the book analyzes themes such as the construction of childhood ideals and the heterogeneity of childhood. Readers will gain insight into established tropes and the historical development of how children are represented in literature across different global contexts. This work is a valuable resource for those studying the sociology of childhood and literary history.