The Prehistory of Nostalgia

Abstract

The ‘golden age’ of childhood was remarkable most obviously for its creation of a special literature for children. Such a literature, written specifically to be read by, or more frequently to be read to, children, denotes not simply the new significance accorded childhood, but a self-conscious reflection upon it. Such a literature naturally enough expresses more accurately adults’ preoccupations with childhood, especially with the memory of their own childhood, than it does children’s spontaneous conceptions of the world.