Figure 1.--.

Novels came into their own as a literary form in the 19th Century. Thus many of the major liteary characters date from the 19th Century. Some of the earliest and best-loved boyhood characters were created by Charles Dickens and other 19th century authors. Many of these books are now conceived as children's classics. Books like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and even Little Lord Fauntleroy were considered at the time to be to be serious adult literarure. Only in the 20th century have these books come to be seen as children's literature. Novels present a real problem for HBC. Unlike photographs and to a lesser extent contemporary paintings and illustrations, they are not definitive little glimpses of reality. Nor do they have validity of memoirs and biographies. They do, however, often touch on clothing. Not only do they have descriptions of clothing, but they often have descriptions of behavior associated with clothing as well as characters' thoughts assocaited with that clothing. This is information often not available in any other source. The problem of course becomes, how accurate are those descriptions. Novels set in contemporary times or at least within a writers own life time are apt to be the most accurate. But even here considerable caution is required. Here we have only begun to assess the vast assessment of literature, a monumental task. We have begun a few country pages on novels, including America, England, France, Germany, Ireland,and Scotland. Hopefully our readers will forward interesting passages from their favorite novels. While novels are our principal focus here, we will include other literary forms such as short stories and plays. A good source of on-line books to reserach for interesting references is "Arthur's Classic Novels".

New Literary Form

Novels appeared in the 18th century, but the literary format came into its own as a literary form in the 19th Century.

Boy Characters

As the novel became perhaps the preminent literary form in the 19th century, many of the major liteary characters date from the 19th Century. Some of the earliest and best-loved boyhood characters were created by Charles Dickens and other 19th century authors. Many of these books are now conceived as children's classics. Books like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and even Little Lord Fauntleroy were considered at the time to be to be serious adult literarure. Only in the 20th century have these books come to be seen as children's literature.

Validity

Novels present a real problem for a history site like HBC. Unlike photographs and to a lesser extent contemporary paintings and illustrations, they are not definitive little glimpses of reality. Nor do they have validity of memoirs and biographies. They do, however, often touch on clothing. Not only do they have descriptions of clothing, but they often have descriptions of behavior associated with clothing as well as characters' thoughts assocaited with that clothing. This is information often not available in any other source. The problem of course becomes, how accurate are those descriptions. Novels set in contemporary times or at least within a writers own life time are apt to be the most accurate. But even here considerable caution is required.

Clothing References

Here we have only begun to assess the vast assessment of literature, a monumental task. Unfortunately at the time I read many classic novels, I had not yet begun to work on HBC. And my work on HBC does nor allow time to go back an reread these novels. This is unfortunate as there is a lo of very useful clothing information in the classic nivels. We have begun a few country pages on novels, but our work at this stage is very preliminary. Our work at this stage includes: America, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Russia, and Scotland. Hopefully our readers will forward interesting passages from some of their their favorite novels.

Other Sources

While novels are our principal focus here, we will include other literary forms such as short stories and plays. A good source of on-line books to reserach for interesting references is Arthur's Classic Novels.

School

While our focus is references to clothing in novels, there are of course many other topics associate with childhood covered. One of those subjects is school, a topic that HBC covers in considerable detail. We will thus begin to collect refeences to school experiences. Of course there is a rich collection of school stories, especially in England. Here we will focus on school references in other novels.

Authors

The life experiences of an author provides important information helpful in understanding his or her works. NBC is developing biographies on major authors. Some of their works are also assessed on our site. In keeping with the basis theme of our website, we are especially interested in their childhood experiences. Often this is the key to their literary themes. Childhood does not address their talent which is basically innate, but it does pertain to their experiences which does affect their work and the characters they create.