Children’s Literature: A study on the writer Richmal Crompton and her character William Brown

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to address children’s literature with a focus on the figure of Richmal Crompton and her famous character William Brown, considered a quintessential anti hero in this genre.
Firstly, the aim is to offer a Feminist Criticism as an approach to children’s literature drawing an overview from the author to her female characters. In the second part of the essay, a close reading of Richmal Crompton’s books will analyse the characteristics of William Brown and the world surrounding him. His fictional world is rich in nods to the reality of those years and frames the adventures of the character. An exploration on how this eternal eleven-year-old schoolboy perceives the society and the prevailing mentality of that period is also part of this study.
Finally, since Spain is one of the countries in which the book was more successful, the last section will be about the censorship during Franco’s years with a focus on authority, sexuality and religion, to demonstrate how this genre became one of the targets of the dictatorship as it was read from a political point of view.