'The End Lies in the Beginning': Embracing Childhood and Old Age in Susan Hill's Ghost Novels The Small Hand and Dolly. Issue 3 (October 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Miquel-Baldellou, Marta
• Is Part Of: International research in children's literature. Volume 14:Issue 3(2021)
• Page Start: 315
• Page End: 329
• Publication Date: 2021-10
• Subjects: age inversion -- folktales -- ghost novels -- mirror stages of age -- neo-Victorianism -- Victorian tropes of age; Children's literature -- Research -- Periodicals; Children's literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; 809.89282
• DOI: 10.3366/ircl.2021.0413
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1755-6198

Abstract

Abstract : Susan Hill's novels The Small Hand (2010) and Dolly (2012) evoke Victorian tropes of age inversion drawn from children's literature and ghost narratives that undermine the boundaries established between childhood and old age. Given their neo-Victorian features, Hill's two novels engage in dialogue with these Victorian tropes, but, in comparison, Hill's spectral entities literally denote that these life stages are interrelated and should be embraced.