Narratives of Child Neglect in Romantic and Victorian Culture

Narratives of Child Neglect in Romantic and Victorian Culture

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Narratives of Child Neglect in Romantic and Victorian Culture Galia Benziman The Open University of Israel Palgrave macmillan

Galia Benziman 2012 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 978-0-230-29392-2 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6 10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2012 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-33313-4 ISBN 978-0-230-34883-7 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230348837 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Benziman, Galia, 1968 Narratives of child neglect in romantic and Victorian culture / Galia Benziman. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Children in literature. 2. English literature 19th century History and criticism. 3. Child abuse in literature. 4. Child rearing in literature. 5. Children s rights in literature. 6. Children Great Britain History 19th century. 7. Child abuse Great Britain History 19th century. 8. Child rearing Great Britain History 19th century. 9. Children s rights Great Britain History 19th century. I. Title. PR468.C5B46 2011 820.9'3556 dc23 2011029561 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12

For Yotam In memory of my father, Ram Evron (1935 2008): a lover of music and literature, and a real Dickensian.

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Contents Acknowledgments viii Introduction 1 1 Concepts of Childhood and Adult Responsibility: Locke, Rousseau, More, and Edgeworth 27 2 Redeeming or Silencing the Child s Voice: Blake and Wordsworth 69 3 Child Neglect as Social Vice: Trollope, Tonna, and Working- Class Subjectivity 95 4 The Split Image of the Neglected Child: Dickens 142 5 Aged Children and the Inevitability of Being Neglected: Hardy 186 Notes 214 Works Cited 234 Index 247 vii

Acknowledgments It is appropriate that in a book about children, the author should begin by thanking her own three. Although my sweet daughters Shira, Rotem, and Noga have been too young to read this book, they were constantly aware of its presence and inadvertently contributed to its writing, and to my conceptualization of child adult relationships, in important ways. I hope that my immersion in the study of nineteenth- century child neglect did not make them feel neglected too often. I have also been deeply fortunate to have had the encouragement of my husband, Yotam, who carefully read every word and whose unceasing intellectual input and love became inseparable ingredients of this book. Going back in time, I am grateful to the Department of English and American Studies at Tel Aviv University, where this project started years ago. It was in this department that I shaped my skills of reading and studying literature, first as a student and later as an instructor. To Zephyra Porat, a brilliant thinker and devoted teacher, I am indebted for an ongoing dialog that inspired, among other things, the germ of this study a short paper on Thomas Hardy. Zephyra s insight, depth of knowledge, and hard questions never ceased to provoke me toward further discoveries. I am also deeply grateful to Robert Griffin, my dissertation adviser at Tel Aviv University (now at Texas A&M), for being such a rigorous, exacting reader, who confronted me with the logical and theoretical shortcomings of my written work. I greatly benefited from Bob s sound advice, both intellectual and practical, and from his continuous encouragement. I thank many other friends and colleagues at Tel Aviv University for their support, critical merit, and invaluable suggestions along the way in particular Amy Garnai, Milette Shamir, Hana Wirth- Nesher, and Elana Gomel. I owe especially warm thanks to Leona Toker of the English Depart ment at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, whose perceptive suggestions and editorial genius have guided me through various stages in the writing of this book. Besides her indispensable intellectual advice, wide knowledge, and meticulous attention to the smallest of details, I have been continually impressed by Leona s generosity, reflected (among other things) in her endless willingness to read, reread, and comment on my work. I was extremely fortunate to be able to come to the University of California, Santa Cruz as a Visiting Fellow with the University of California Dickens viii

Acknowledgments ix Project for one memorable year, 2008 9. I thank Murray Baumgarten, the Founding Director of the Project, and John Jordan, the Project Director, for their hospitality, sympathy, and practical advice. The academic environment that they provided (deer, red- tree forest, and eminent Victorianists included) was unique. Murray, who had generously invited me to the annual Dickens Universe when we had first met in Jerusalem, was the most amiable of hosts. John, whose kindness and patience are truly rare, read much of the book in draft and made many excellent suggestions for which as also for our conversations on Dickens I shall always be grateful. For their helpful feedback and advice along the way I am also indebted to Herbert Tucker, who carefully read and commented on earlier versions of some of the chapters; Alex Woloch, who gave me useful suggestions; and Deborah Logan, whose observations on portions of Chapter 3 helped me reformulate and elucidate my argument. I owe many thanks to Monica Flegel, who read the manuscript for Palgrave Macmillan and wrote a thorough, insightful, and constructive review on the first draft of this book. Her wonderful observations and helpful suggestions have served to enrich, revise, and focus my readings. I am also grateful to Editor Paula Kennedy, her assistant, Benjamin Doyle, and the copy-editor, Sally Osborn. I have greatly appreciated their suggestions, support, and patience. Various institutions and research fellowships honored me with their generous support during my work on this book and made its completion possible. I thank the Israeli Council for Higher Education for endowing me with a Nathan Rotenstreich Doctoral Fellowship; the United States Israel Educational Foundation for a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship; the Dan David Prize for a Postdoctoral Research grant; the Department of English and American Studies at Tel Aviv University for an Elizabeth Minden Fellowship for Overseas Research; and the Porter School of Cultural Studies at Tel Aviv University for additional support. An earlier version of Chapter 2 was published as Two Patterns of Child Neglect: Blake and Wordsworth, Partial Answers: Journal of Literature and the History of Ideas, 5.2 ( June 2007): 167 97. Portions of Chapter 3 appeared as Whose Child Is It? Paternalism, Parenting, and Political Ambiguity in Frances Trollope s Factory Novel, The Victorian Newsletter, 118 (Fall 2010): 7 29. I thank the editors of these journals for permission to use the material in this book.