Volume 31, Number 16 · October 25, 1984
Riding the Wave of the Future
By Alison Lurie
BOOKS BY E. NESBIT CURRENTLY IN PRINT
The Enchanted Castle
by E. Nesbit
Buccaneer, $10.95
The Last of the Dragons
by E. Nesbit
McGraw-Hill, $8.95
The Railway Children
by E. Nesbit
Penguin, $2.95 (paper)
The Story of the Amulet
by E. Nesbit
Penguin, $2.95 (paper)
Five Children and It
by E. Nesbit
Penguin, $2.95 (paper)
The Phoenix and the Carpet
by E. Nesbit
Penguin, $2.95 (paper)
Victorian literary fairy tales tend to have a conservative moral and political bias. Under their charm and invention is usually an improving lesson: adults know best; good, obedient, patient, and self-effacing little boys and girls are rewarded by the fairies, and naughty assertive ones are punished. In the most widely read authors of the period—Frances Browne, Mrs. Craik, Mrs. Ewing, Mrs. Moles-worth—and even in the greatest of them all, George Macdonald, the usual tone is that of a kind lady or gentleman delivering a delightfully disguised sermon.
Review, 5133 words
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