Dangerous Children

Gross explores our complex fascination with uncanny children in works of fiction. Ranging from Victorian to modern worksLewis Carrolls Alice in Wonderland, Carlo Collodis Pinocchio, Henry Jamess What Maisie Knew, J. M. Barries Peter and Wendy, Franz Kafkas The Cares of a Family Man, Richard Hughess A High Wind in Jamaica, Elizabeth Bowens The Death of the Heart, and Vladimir Nabokovs LolitaKenneth Grosss book delves into stories that center around the figure of a strange and dangerous child. Whether written for adults or child readers, or both at once, these stories all show us odd, even frightening visions of innocence. We see these childrens uncanny powers of speech, knowledge, and play, as well as their nonsense and violence. And, in the tales, these child-lives keep changing shape. These are children who are often endangered as much as dangerous, haunted as well as haunting. They speak for lost and unknown childhoods. In looking at these narratives, Gross traces the readers thrill of companionship with these unpredictable, often solitary creatureschildren curious about the adult world, who while not accommodating its rules, fall into ever more troubling conversations with adult fears and desires. This book asks how such imaginary children, objects of wonder, challenge our ways of seeing the world, our measures of innocence and experience, and our understanding of time and memory.