Thesis (Ph. D)--Columbia University, 1920. / Vita. Published also as Contributions to education, Teachers College, Columbia University, no. 113. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record.

Thesis (Ph. D)--Columbia University, 1920. / Vita. Published also as Contributions to education, Teachers College, Columbia University, no. 113. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record.

Thesis (doctoral)--Université Paris IV, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 289-309).

This thesis is an examination of the mass-market publishing industry in Britain after the First World War and of the 'literature' read by the lower-middle and working classes: novels and weekly magazines. We chronicle the development of the industry both generally and through the experiences of three publishers, examine the activity and motivations of the reading public and consider the treatment of contemporary issues and attitudes within popular fiction as a useful barometer for the historian. There are seven chapters. Chapter 1 considers the period before 1914 in order to provide the necessary background for an understanding of the focus of this study, 1914-1950. The origins of the popular publishing industry and Wilkie Collins' 'Unknown Public' are examined and continuities with post-1914 popular literature traced. In Chapter 2 a broad overview of our period is conducted: the development of the industry and of the market, the influence of war and the depression, and the effect on reading of the growth of other leisure activities. Chapters 3 and 5 look at the reading habits of adults and children/adolescents from the lower-middle and working classes. In both cases contemporaries and readers themselves seemed to think 'escapism' was paramount in the selection of 'light' fiction and there was therefore a significant continuity between child and adult reading. Finally, Chapters 4, 6 and 7 focus on the histories and influence of three publishers of popular fiction during this period. These include two of the most successful (Mills and Boon, D.C. Thomson) and in contrast, a prominent but declining firm (The Religious Tract Society). In each case the complex relationship between market forces and editorial policies is discussed. We conclude that a reciprocal relationship existed between publisher and reader, with the latter dictating much of what was published. Popular fiction, moreover, served to reinforce predominant stereotypes and ideological views of society rather than to impose specific doctrine.

Based on the author's dissertation, Johns Hopkins. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [189]-192) and index.

Based on the author's dissertation, Johns Hopkins. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [189]-192) and index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of English, General Literature, and Rhetoric. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of St Andrews, April 2009.

L’étude du conte de fées de 1690 à 1789, période de la mode du genre en France, montre que la matière merveilleuse s’est constituée dès ses débuts avec des éléments de pratiques lettrées transposés du réel mais aussi et surtout transformés de manière fantaisiste. Les premiers conteurs (1690-1704) érigent en effet le genre selon une poétique complexe mariant l’oralité des temps naïfs et l’écrit, signe d’une pratique sociale et culturelle du conte. Les conteurs suivants en apportent des infléchissements plus parodiques, des imitations et des variations notamment orientalisantes. L’ensemble des auteurs est concerné mais à des degrés divers, Perrault, Choisy et Fénelon étant moins prolixes en la matière que Madame d’Aulnoy, Pétis de la Croix ou le chevalier de Mailly.Le pays merveilleux dévoile ses arcanes, son secret de fabrication métatextuelle à travers des scènes plus ou moins fugaces de lecture, d’écriture et d’évocations de bibliothèques féériques. / The study of the fairy tale over the years 1690-1789, when the genre was in fashion in France, shows that, from its inception, the subject matter grew up with elements of realistic literary practice which were largely reshaped by imagination. The first storytellers (1690-1704) set up the literary genre according to a complex poetics allying the orality of naive times with literacy, which is the mark of a social and cultural practice of the story. The contributions of the forthcoming storytellers are imitations, parodies or are tinged with Orientalism. All the writers are affected, but to varying degrees: Perrault, Choisy and Fénelon are less inventive in this respect than Madame d’Aulnoy, Pétis de la Croix or the Chevalier de Mailly. The wonderland reveals its mysteries and the secret of its metatextual layout through more or less fleeting scenes of book reading or writing conjuring up a magical library.