Includes bibliographical references (pages 199-203) and index.
Summary:
"This work traces the concepts of initiation and rebirth though Beatrix Potter's personal writing and her children's fiction. Drawing from Potter's letters and journals, it analyses her attempts to escape from what she called her "unloved birthplace" and her overbearing parents to find a happy mature life. Potter felt that her life culminated in her forties, when she was, in effect, reborn through marriage as Mrs. William Heelis, a farmer raising Herdwick sheep and buying land for the National Trust. The language of transformation and rebirth used throughout her personal writing is echoed in Potter's fiction. From her first book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, through some of the last, such as The Fairy Caravan and The Tale of Little Pig Robinson, central characters undergo processes of initiation during which they mature toward adulthood. The most successful ones move from being helpless children to being more mature creatures on their way to independence, while others experience no change or even a regressive change."-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.