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What Is ‘Ludic Reading’?
‘Ludic’ or ‘absorbed’ reading is a virtually trance-like state in which readers willingly become oblivious to the world around them. The term as used here comes from Hugh Crago and Victor Nell. This is by no means a universal phenomenon — some readers read like this, others can’t. I have always felt that the art […]
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American Childhood From The Late 19th Century
American methods of child-rearing were far more lenient than in Britain. Although American ladies’ journals began to promote slenderness and weight control for women in the 1890s, it wasn’t considered necessary to restrict the diet of children. Medical experts advised parents to make sure their children — particularly boys — were not underweight. Between-meal snacks […]
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English Childhood in the 18th and 19th Centuries
How was childhood different in 18th and 19th century England? The following points describe middle and upper class family life at that time. Children of the rural labouring classes relied for reading material on cheap chapbooks Chapbooks were passed from family to family School library books were all of the “goody goody, Sunday-school prize type” […]
