Gender and Early Modern Constructions of Childhood

Scholars of European literature and history explore how constructions of childhood were inflected by considerations of gender throughout the early modern world. They look at conceptualizing childhood: loss and celebration, imprinting identity: education and social training, and transitional stages: growing up and growing old. The topics include child-loss and funeral monuments in early modern England, Huguenot children and child-reading in the letters of Louise de Coligny, gender and household instruction in Shakespeare's The Tempest, codpieces and masculinity in 16th-century Europe, and allegories of childhood in Cervantes. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Naomi J. Miller is Professor of English and the Study of Women and Gender at Smith College, USA, and Naomi Yavneh is Director of the University Honors Program and Professor of Language and Culture at Loyola University New Orleans, USA.