| Summary: | This study investigates the relationship between language, ideology and literature in popular children's fiction over the last one hundred and fifty years. In Chapter One criteria are established for the compilation of a computerised database of Victorian and Modern texts. The usefulness of computational techniques for linguistic analysis is demonstrated and discussion of genre, social institutions and writer / reader relationships follows. Chapter Two sets out to consider ideology in general and from the perspective of adults and children in particular. A framework for the operation of ideology in society is then discussed and examples of its 'modes and strategies' are given from the corpora. A 'toolkit' for linguistic analysis, notably, but not exclusively, collocation and transitivity, is then presented. Chapter Three is the first of the chapters concerned with detailed language description. Selected nineteenth century boys' texts are presented and analysed in respect of their religious and imperial 'messages'. Chapters Four and Five concentrate on Modern Children's Fiction. In Chapter Four the work of Nina Bawden and Roald Dahl is discussed and texts from both authors analysed. The 'realistic' novel for adolescent readers is the focus of Chapter Five. I consider, there, the representation of subjects formerly taboo in children's fiction such as sexual relationships. Chapter Six summarises the results of the investigation and notes that although children's narratives reflect major social changes they are still powerful carriers of ideology. Recommendations for further comparative and contrastive studies are made.
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