Ariko Kawabata and her colleague Yoriko Iwata have recently published:
"Eikoku
Lady ni naru Hoho" (Making of a Victorian Lady) The book is published in Japanese only, but members will be interested to know about its contents and those who can read Japanese may well find it useful if they are working in the area of Victorian children's literature. The fact that such a book has been conceived and well received in Japan is illuminating in itself. The book tracks the life of an English Lady in the Victorian period, from her maidenhood through marriage, motherhood, and then widowhood. It describes her way of living, the objects she uses, and the manners and habits of her social world. Illustrations include period illustrations and photographs as well as many examples from nineteenth-century novels and children's books. The text also provides annotations for those encountering this world for the first time or from afar; for instance, it mentions, illustrates and provides explanations for everyday items such as a portable writing desk, hair accessory, scrapbooks, wall paper, a leech bottle, rattles, Fauntleroy suits, toy theatre, doll's houses and so on - all of which are slightly mysterious to the uninitiated. Its approach, which involves linking these aspects of Victorian life to the lives of women and children at the time, provides a frame from which to understand the social changes of that era and the beginnings of modernity. |
