La evolución del concepto de infancia y su reflejo en la literatura infantil y juvenil de las épocas victoriana y eduardiana. Tradición y subversión en "The Secret Garden", de Frances Hodgson Burnett

Abstract

This study aims to account for the analysis of The Secret Garden (1911) by Frances Hodgson Burnett . We show its context based on the evolution of the concept of childhood and its literary reflection . On the novel we revise the influences of the Beautifu/ Child model and of genres such as pastoral literature, the folk tale, the moral tale, the exemplum and the gothic elements to reflect on both the conservative and the subversive aspects of the novel. Among these, we examine the concepts of womanhood, health and anorexia, motherhood, sex and the secret. The novel is also analyzed taking into account the main philosophical frame of the period, such as the New Thought, Christian Science and Theosophy. Our conclusion connects the novel with its modern validity .