Dedication
I humbly dedicate this website to the Professors without whom it would not exist. I would not have thought to do this without
Professor Winckles who introduced me to the wonderful women authors of the Eighteenth Century (who were not already Jane Austen), and to the idea that I could launch something into the (for me) incredibly alien space of the web. I am also incredibly indebted to and inspired by Professor Lisa Maruca, who continues to guide this work and expand my knowledge of women authors and of children's literature. I equally want to appreciate the wonderful community of students and scholars at Wayne State University. I have learned so much from all of you! I hope to continue to improve and expand this website as I continue to learn and improve myself. (I believe the expanding myself part of balancing that sentence will occur automatically with age).
In Appreciation
Jan Blaschak
I humbly dedicate this website to the Professors without whom it would not exist. I would not have thought to do this without
Professor Winckles who introduced me to the wonderful women authors of the Eighteenth Century (who were not already Jane Austen), and to the idea that I could launch something into the (for me) incredibly alien space of the web. I am also incredibly indebted to and inspired by Professor Lisa Maruca, who continues to guide this work and expand my knowledge of women authors and of children's literature. I equally want to appreciate the wonderful community of students and scholars at Wayne State University. I have learned so much from all of you! I hope to continue to improve and expand this website as I continue to learn and improve myself. (I believe the expanding myself part of balancing that sentence will occur automatically with age).
In Appreciation
Jan Blaschak
Preface
Gentle reader, I want to acknowledge that this site is focused on British children's literature. This is not because I think it is "the first and best" in stories for children in all the history of all the world. It is simply what I'm most familiar with and most interested in, as it is part of my own literary history. This literature, and our inheritance from it in America, is simply what I read as a child and what I wanted to study. As I studied, I became increasingly amazed at the accomplishments of these little known women authors and wanted to introduce them to others. Long either ignored entirely or dismissed as trivial, these authors explored many issues about education, morality, rationality, emotion and behavior. They also, above all, wrote, and wrote well: publishing (sometimes prolifically) during a time when the idea of a woman choosing a public career was still a little suspicious. I wanted to give them some attention, and spread some awareness of their abilities and accomplishments.
How to use this site.
Each author has a picture on the page entitled "The Authors". To read about an author, you can click on her picture, which will take you to her page, or click on her name under the pull-down menu. If you go to that author's name her menu will appear and if you click on her name, you will see a page of highlights about that author. Each author's menu contains the following pages: a general introduction to that author, an analysis of her work, a short biography and a bibliography of her work.
How to use this site.
Each author has a picture on the page entitled "The Authors". To read about an author, you can click on her picture, which will take you to her page, or click on her name under the pull-down menu. If you go to that author's name her menu will appear and if you click on her name, you will see a page of highlights about that author. Each author's menu contains the following pages: a general introduction to that author, an analysis of her work, a short biography and a bibliography of her work.