"For Nursery Magic Is Very Strange and Wonderful": The Queer Space of the Nursery in The Velveteen Rabbit
Title and/or Affiliation
University of Southern Mississippi PhD Candidate
Presenter Bio
Karlie Herndon is a PhD candidate at the University of Southern Mississippi. She studies children's literature, often using theories of gender and sexuality to better understand children's texts.
Session
Panel: Reading Classics through Other Eyes
Location
Zoom
Start Date
8-7-2022 2:45 PM
End Date
8-7-2022 4:00 PM
Abstract
The late-Victorian nursery was unique in terms of space: it was a child-centered space where children could test the boundaries of adult-sanctioned rules, including the rules of gender and sexuality. Williams’s nursery highlights the uniqueness of this space by imbuing it with “nursery magic,” a kind of magic that may allow the best-loved toys to become “Real.” The nursery space allows for the Boy—a nameless stand-in for all boys—to play in whatever way he likes, particularly in bed. In this reading of the Boy’s nursery as a queer space, we see the rules of heteronormative adult gender and sexuality rewritten to such an extent that the most loved toy is saved from the fire that seeks to eradicate Boy’s “unhealthy” bed-play. The child’s intense love for the Rabbit queers the adult heteronormative notions of pleasure through rewarding the Rabbit with a real body.
"For Nursery Magic Is Very Strange and Wonderful": The Queer Space of the Nursery in The Velveteen Rabbit
Zoom
The late-Victorian nursery was unique in terms of space: it was a child-centered space where children could test the boundaries of adult-sanctioned rules, including the rules of gender and sexuality. Williams’s nursery highlights the uniqueness of this space by imbuing it with “nursery magic,” a kind of magic that may allow the best-loved toys to become “Real.” The nursery space allows for the Boy—a nameless stand-in for all boys—to play in whatever way he likes, particularly in bed. In this reading of the Boy’s nursery as a queer space, we see the rules of heteronormative adult gender and sexuality rewritten to such an extent that the most loved toy is saved from the fire that seeks to eradicate Boy’s “unhealthy” bed-play. The child’s intense love for the Rabbit queers the adult heteronormative notions of pleasure through rewarding the Rabbit with a real body.
Comments
Moderated by Lisa Rowe Fraustino