School Stories
Jan. 5th, 2005 11:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
slemslempikeWhen I say school stories, I mean girls' school stories. Partly through laziness, and partly a deliberate reaction to mainstream lit crit, which, when it says it at all, means boys' school stories. Girls' school stories are always mentioned with a qualifier, and almost invariably looked down on.
I know far less about the boys' school story -![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sabethea is a better person to ask, especially about Jennings, and I believe stellanova's well versed in the laws and lore of Billy Bunter. I do know that Tom Brown's Schooldays (1857), by Thomas Hughes, is the boys' school story - it's a major milestone because it's the first example that really foregrounded The School as almost a character in its own right. OTher notables include Kipling's Stalky & Co (1899), Farrar's St. Winifred's, or, The World of School (1883), and my personal favourite, The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's (1907), by Talbot Baines Reed, which is a rollicking good read, featuring sixth formers embroiled in gambling and debt, False Accusations of Cheating, rival groups of fags, and a prank involving a fake examination paper that makes me giggle whenever I think of it.
There are also mixed-school stories, although these can by-and-large fall into girls' school stories. The best known series is Enid Blyton's The Naughtiest Girl series, which also has 1990s/2000s continuations by Anne Digby. Mixed sex boarding school stories are discussed in greater depth here, in what can only be described as The Most Important Piece of Literary Criticism in The History of Ever, aka my MA dissertation.
A school doesn't have to be set in a boarding school (although most, and certainly the best known, are), and it doesn't even have to be single sex (but again mixed stories are in even more of a minority, and people might quibble about this). In my mind, the two main criteria for girls' school stories are a foregrounding of girls and their experiences, and a school setting. The former is bviously far easier in a single-sex environment (but Josephine Elder's Farm School series manages it in a coeducational school) and both are facilitated by a boarding school setting (although day schools are useful for portraying girls' experiences with and of boys).
My knowledge of (G)SS is pretty much limited to the 1920s onwards, although the genre started some time before then. The first school story of any kind, Sarah Fielding's The Governess (1749) was set in a girls' school. Aside from that, however, the boom in GSS came a while after the boom in BSS, just as girls' participation in education was held back while their brothers forged ahead. Early proponents include L.T. Meade, The best known of the earlier 20th century GSS writers was Angela Brazil (rhymes with Razzle, by the waY). Mention GSS to anyone outside the fandom, and the first words out of their mouth (if they're not "jolly hockey sticks") are likely to be her name. However, she is not so popular amongst today's collectors. In part this may be precisely because of her fame - otherwise unknowledgeable booksellers are likely to recognise the name, and mark up the prices of her books accordingly, making them less affordable. The more pressing reason is likely that she never created a series.
The authors of the best known and most lengthy GSS series are also known as The Big Three (although invariably people will argue for their favourite author to be included, so that there can also be a Big Four, or even Five): Elinor M. Brent-Dyer (Chalet School), Elsie Jeanette Oxenham (Abbey Girls) and Dorita Fairlie Bruce (Dimsie). The series all debuted at a similar time (1925, 1920 and 1921 respectively) and cover a span of many years, from the characters' first entry into school life until adulthood and the education of their children. All three wrote other series as well, and employed various crossover techniques s that EJO's series are hard to disentangle, Dimsie turns up in Springdale, the La Rochelle characters go to the Chalet School, and virtually everyone in EBD-land reads books by Josephine M. Bettany.
The Chalet School has probably the widest following of any SS author, partly because of the more recent reprinting (paperbacks in the 1990s), but also because the series is the longest - 62 titles in paperback. I believe it is the second largest non-syndicate series of children's books (behind W.E. Johns' Biggles). It certainly has the most active fan base, with two clubs/journals devoted to the books (The New Chalet Club and Friends of the Chalet School), as well as The Chaletian website and discussion in various non-specialist journals and mailing lists. In addition to discussion of the books, societies publish their fanfiction in the form of fill-in books, as well as reprinting the rarer titles.
Enid Blyton's school stories also have fill-in books, although these were professionally commissioned rather than fan-fiction. Because she had such a wide readership, Blyton's two GSS series, Malory Towers and St. Clare's are the stories most likely to have been read by people who don't realise that they've read any school stories. Blyton wrote her series slightly later than the Big Three, in the 1940s and early 1950s, and she also confined herself to writing only about her characters' schooldays. The St. Clare's series ends with the twins about to enter their final year at the school (a year covered in Pamela Cos's continuation), and Malory Towers with Darrel and co about to set off to university or careers.
One of the criticisms widely levelled at GSS is that they are ill-written and sentimental. While there are a few titles that would seem to justify this comment (and the same is surely true of any genre), it is largely the product of the same school of thought that dismisses all women's writing as inferior. Some of the best examples of children's writing can be found in girls' school stories. One of the few authors to be well-received outside the genre is Antonia Forest. She wrote only 13 books, most of them about the Marlow family. Four of these titles detail the experiences of the sisters at their single-sex boarding school. While they are fine examples of the GSS, they, along with her other books, cover topics such as religion, sport, the navy, acting/role-playing, falconry, spies, Shakespeare and the Brontes. While it is tempting to say that she transcends her genre, to do so would be to deny the possibilities that the genre provides.
It might be fair to say that some of the best writing in GSS stories comes from the less prolific or well known authors. Antonia Forest is at the forefront of these, and others include Mary K. Harris, Josephine Elder, Winifred Darch and Evelyn Smith. Writing more towards the end of the GSS heyday, they were perhaps more able to bring a touch of irony to their stories, without disparaging their forebears. Two authors, Joanna Lloyd and Nancy Breary, are some of the funniest writers of school stories, and can be appreciated even by those without knowledge of the conventions that are being lovingly mocked.
The school story pretty much ground to a halt after the 1960s - a combination of factors including perhaps a lack of writers, definitely a lack of interest in the genre from publishers, and general opinions that the school story was inherently middle-class and out of touch. Perhaps the rise of co-education comprehensive education played a part, as school was increasingly less of a privilege and more of a chore. Despite this, there have been several modernisations of the girls' school story, notably Jean Ure's 1990s Peter High series (owing more than a little to Nancy Breary's Drusilla Cathcart books), and Anne Digby (author of the Naughtiest Girl continuations)'s Trebizon series (1978-1993).
So. A very brief and biased introduction to the twentieth century girls' school story.
I know far less about the boys' school story -
sabethea is a better person to ask, especially about Jennings, and I believe stellanova's well versed in the laws and lore of Billy Bunter. I do know that Tom Brown's Schooldays (1857), by Thomas Hughes, is the boys' school story - it's a major milestone because it's the first example that really foregrounded The School as almost a character in its own right. OTher notables include Kipling's Stalky & Co (1899), Farrar's St. Winifred's, or, The World of School (1883), and my personal favourite, The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's (1907), by Talbot Baines Reed, which is a rollicking good read, featuring sixth formers embroiled in gambling and debt, False Accusations of Cheating, rival groups of fags, and a prank involving a fake examination paper that makes me giggle whenever I think of it. There are also mixed-school stories, although these can by-and-large fall into girls' school stories. The best known series is Enid Blyton's The Naughtiest Girl series, which also has 1990s/2000s continuations by Anne Digby. Mixed sex boarding school stories are discussed in greater depth here, in what can only be described as The Most Important Piece of Literary Criticism in The History of Ever, aka my MA dissertation.
A school doesn't have to be set in a boarding school (although most, and certainly the best known, are), and it doesn't even have to be single sex (but again mixed stories are in even more of a minority, and people might quibble about this). In my mind, the two main criteria for girls' school stories are a foregrounding of girls and their experiences, and a school setting. The former is bviously far easier in a single-sex environment (but Josephine Elder's Farm School series manages it in a coeducational school) and both are facilitated by a boarding school setting (although day schools are useful for portraying girls' experiences with and of boys).
My knowledge of (G)SS is pretty much limited to the 1920s onwards, although the genre started some time before then. The first school story of any kind, Sarah Fielding's The Governess (1749) was set in a girls' school. Aside from that, however, the boom in GSS came a while after the boom in BSS, just as girls' participation in education was held back while their brothers forged ahead. Early proponents include L.T. Meade, The best known of the earlier 20th century GSS writers was Angela Brazil (rhymes with Razzle, by the waY). Mention GSS to anyone outside the fandom, and the first words out of their mouth (if they're not "jolly hockey sticks") are likely to be her name. However, she is not so popular amongst today's collectors. In part this may be precisely because of her fame - otherwise unknowledgeable booksellers are likely to recognise the name, and mark up the prices of her books accordingly, making them less affordable. The more pressing reason is likely that she never created a series.
The authors of the best known and most lengthy GSS series are also known as The Big Three (although invariably people will argue for their favourite author to be included, so that there can also be a Big Four, or even Five): Elinor M. Brent-Dyer (Chalet School), Elsie Jeanette Oxenham (Abbey Girls) and Dorita Fairlie Bruce (Dimsie). The series all debuted at a similar time (1925, 1920 and 1921 respectively) and cover a span of many years, from the characters' first entry into school life until adulthood and the education of their children. All three wrote other series as well, and employed various crossover techniques s that EJO's series are hard to disentangle, Dimsie turns up in Springdale, the La Rochelle characters go to the Chalet School, and virtually everyone in EBD-land reads books by Josephine M. Bettany.
The Chalet School has probably the widest following of any SS author, partly because of the more recent reprinting (paperbacks in the 1990s), but also because the series is the longest - 62 titles in paperback. I believe it is the second largest non-syndicate series of children's books (behind W.E. Johns' Biggles). It certainly has the most active fan base, with two clubs/journals devoted to the books (The New Chalet Club and Friends of the Chalet School), as well as The Chaletian website and discussion in various non-specialist journals and mailing lists. In addition to discussion of the books, societies publish their fanfiction in the form of fill-in books, as well as reprinting the rarer titles.
Enid Blyton's school stories also have fill-in books, although these were professionally commissioned rather than fan-fiction. Because she had such a wide readership, Blyton's two GSS series, Malory Towers and St. Clare's are the stories most likely to have been read by people who don't realise that they've read any school stories. Blyton wrote her series slightly later than the Big Three, in the 1940s and early 1950s, and she also confined herself to writing only about her characters' schooldays. The St. Clare's series ends with the twins about to enter their final year at the school (a year covered in Pamela Cos's continuation), and Malory Towers with Darrel and co about to set off to university or careers.
One of the criticisms widely levelled at GSS is that they are ill-written and sentimental. While there are a few titles that would seem to justify this comment (and the same is surely true of any genre), it is largely the product of the same school of thought that dismisses all women's writing as inferior. Some of the best examples of children's writing can be found in girls' school stories. One of the few authors to be well-received outside the genre is Antonia Forest. She wrote only 13 books, most of them about the Marlow family. Four of these titles detail the experiences of the sisters at their single-sex boarding school. While they are fine examples of the GSS, they, along with her other books, cover topics such as religion, sport, the navy, acting/role-playing, falconry, spies, Shakespeare and the Brontes. While it is tempting to say that she transcends her genre, to do so would be to deny the possibilities that the genre provides.
It might be fair to say that some of the best writing in GSS stories comes from the less prolific or well known authors. Antonia Forest is at the forefront of these, and others include Mary K. Harris, Josephine Elder, Winifred Darch and Evelyn Smith. Writing more towards the end of the GSS heyday, they were perhaps more able to bring a touch of irony to their stories, without disparaging their forebears. Two authors, Joanna Lloyd and Nancy Breary, are some of the funniest writers of school stories, and can be appreciated even by those without knowledge of the conventions that are being lovingly mocked.
The school story pretty much ground to a halt after the 1960s - a combination of factors including perhaps a lack of writers, definitely a lack of interest in the genre from publishers, and general opinions that the school story was inherently middle-class and out of touch. Perhaps the rise of co-education comprehensive education played a part, as school was increasingly less of a privilege and more of a chore. Despite this, there have been several modernisations of the girls' school story, notably Jean Ure's 1990s Peter High series (owing more than a little to Nancy Breary's Drusilla Cathcart books), and Anne Digby (author of the Naughtiest Girl continuations)'s Trebizon series (1978-1993).
So. A very brief and biased introduction to the twentieth century girls' school story.
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no subject
Date: 2005-01-06 02:37 am (UTC)See, i tend to argue that that's not entirely true. in many ways it took a new direction (see Harry Potter for more details) but it's still there in various forms....
no subject
Date: 2005-01-06 04:28 am (UTC)And I don't think of Harry Potter as a school story! I see it as a magic story that happens to take place in a school, whereas I'd be more tempted (but still not convinced) that the Worst Witch books are school stories that happen to be magical.
no subject
Date: 2005-01-06 07:03 am (UTC)What I really want to do is to write a really good school series of fantasy books. Proper ones with goblins and fairies because books with elves in are better than other books so the people who love school stories should be allowed them too and it would force me to write about girls because obviously school stories should be about girls hm. I'm going to add it to my list:):):):):):)
no subject
Date: 2005-01-06 09:25 am (UTC)i didn't particularly realise until i started looking into the comparisons and they are immense. but i won't bore you further. you'll actually find that most people disagree with me and agree with you, however: i am ploughing a lone furrow on this one.
no subject
Date: 2005-01-06 10:12 am (UTC)::wishes you well with your lone furrow all the same:)::
no subject
Date: 2005-01-08 02:26 am (UTC)*joins you in HP celebration*
no subject
Date: 2005-01-06 09:03 pm (UTC)I think I might have a different view about it if I had more of a grounding in BSS, and I'd actually be really interested to hear more about your thoughts on it, if you have the time and inclination!
no subject
Date: 2005-01-08 02:29 am (UTC)I know it's not just about that - but then, a hell of a lot of the Abbey series, for example, isn't about school at all, is it? (I'm totally woozy on this as I've only actually read one of them - Song of the Abbey - which certainly wasn't; but reading the critics gives me the impression that there's a lot of non-school stuff in that - yet you were counting that series as part of the school story genre...)
I would argue that very much of HP, especially in the earlier books, is literally about school; and the early Harry has a lot in common with Jennings, as well (and, possibly, Harry Wharton from Billy Bunter, too).