Rosemary Auchmuty

Legal scholar and literary critic Rosemary Auchmuty examines the world of the British girls' school story in this slim volume, first published in 1992. Concentrating on four influential twentieth-century authors - Enid Blyton, Elinor M. Brent-Dyer, Dorita Fairlie Bruce, and Elsie J. Oxenham - she argues that the true significance of the genre lies in its promotion of an all-female world, one in which young girls find support through female friendship, and inspiration through female guidance and teaching. She seeks to examine this fictional world, one in which "women's emotional and social energies are directed towards other women, and women's friendships are seen as positive, not destructive or competitive, and sufficient unto themselves." Topics discussed include: the Schoolgirl Code, and the ways it is inspired by and departs from the Schoolboy Code; issues of discipline, and the role of the peer group in enforcing it; the all important subject of friendship, and the related (and somewhat touchy) schoolgirl 'crush.' The personal back-stories of the four authors under consideration are also discussed, as is the purpose of educating girls. The author concludes that, contrary to the scorn heaped upon the girls' school story, this type of novel offers something positive and helpful, in the form of respite (however temporary) from a male-dominated world.

Although her analysis in A World of Girls: The Appeal of the Girls' School Story is mostly confined to the twentieth century, with a few brief forays into earlier Victorian examples, Auchmuty has named her book after L.T. Meade's 1886 novel, also entitled A World of Girls. I found this significant, as my sole criticism of this otherwise excellent work is that the author seems to hold to the mistaken (albeit quite common) belief that "school stories were a Victorian creation." As someone who has researched early girls' school stories, in the pre-Victorian period - I presented a paper at conference once, on the influence of Sarah Fielding's 1749 The Governess; or, The Little Female Academy on girls' educational narratives from 1750 through 1825 - this canard is always one I always find off-putting. Early children's literature is an under-researched field, but whilst I understand that many scholars are lacking in knowledge of the area, the endless repetition of these kinds of half-truths - another example would be the idea that English children's literature began in the 18th century, with John Newbery - grows tiresome. Leaving that one issue aside, I found this book illuminating. Some of this same ground was covered in the front matter of Sue Sims and Hilary Clare's marvelous The Encyclopaedia of Girls' School Stories, of which Rosemary Auchmuty was an editor, but it was good to see this particular interpretation more fully explored. I assume that the author expands upon the idea in her subsequent A World of Women: Growing Up in the Girls' School Story, which I hope to read in the future.

With the growth of Queer Studies, since the publication of this book, and the reinterpretation of many older children's books in the light of this new(ish) critical lens, I thought it was particularly welcome that Auchmuty lays out the history of how girls' school stories came to be associated with a homosexual environment, rather than a homosocial one. Current readers might be surprised to discover that the push to identify girls' school stories as homosexual in nature, something I also sometimes see from proponents of Queer Theory, actually first came in the early twentieth century, from those seeking to tear down women's spaces, and destroy their potential to create female independence. As the author states, "the sexualisation of women's friendships was a political gesture, intended to reinstate male power at a time when it has been under feminist attack." I thought this point was well made, as I find the sometimes willful misunderstanding of prior generations' homosocial friendships by current readers and scholars, and the insistence on assigning such relations a sexual component they often did not have, quite problematic.

All in all, A World of Girls: The Appeal of the Girls' School Story is an engaging, thought-provoking, and ultimately illuminating book, one I would not hesitate to recommend to readers interested in the girls' school story genre, and its social significance.… (mehr)