Secret Spaces of Childhood

By: Elizabeth Goodenough

Book Overview

Whether it's real or imaginary, every child has a secret space, and this remarkable book explores them all. For some it's a treehouse or a hidden spot beneath a bush; for others it's a private psychic refuge--a favorite book, or a dollhouse that becomes a stage for a young imagination. As the more than four dozen pieces collected here reveal, such spaces play a key role in a child's development and retain a symbolic power that resonates throughout our adult lives. No reader will put this book down without experiencing a rush of familiar memories and new insights into that bygone world.Poet Diane Ackerman evokes that "parallel universe behind the eyes / which no one shared, or dare discover"; Paul Brodeur recalls the "fort" where he and his brother defended Cape Cod against invaders in World War II; Nobelist Wole Soyinka offers a poignant verse portrait of Africa's lost children; and Paul West remembers youthful encounters with his eccentric neighbors Edith and Osbert Sitwell. Elsewhere, Robert Coles summons up memories of his first years as a doctor and a wise young patient who taught him a lesson he has never forgotten, and Mary Galbraith shows how childhood loss is transformed into art in Ludwig Bemelmans's classic Madeline. And these are just a few of the gems in a treasury that includes Anne Frank, the controversial photographs of Sally Mann and the crudely eloquent drawings of young South African refugees, clinical case studies and profoundly personal imagery.A perceptive, thought-provoking work for general readers, Secret Spaces of Childhood opens a wonderful window on the world of the young.Elizabeth Goodenough is Lecturer in Comparative Literature, the Residential College, University of Michigan.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0472068458
• ISBN13: 9780472068456
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: University of Michigan Press
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Captivating reflections on childhood & imagination

First, a bit about the book:"Secret Spaces of Childhood" presents essays, poems, artwork, short stories, and memoirs dealing with the secret mental lives of children--how, as children, we all create or seek out secret places, and how memories of those spaces stay with us and shape us as adults. A "secret space" can be an actual physical place (a treehouse, a fort made of blankets, the woods behind school, etc.) or a mental escape (reading, play-acting, imaginary friendships). Children seek out these spaces for any number of reasons, from the usual motivators of curiosity and mental development, to more practical reasons of self-protection (such as escaping violence in the home or bullying at school). Some of the book's contributing authors tell their own stories of childhood, and some write about the idea of secret spaces and the importance of secret spaces from a more academic or theoretical standpoint. With such renowned contributors as novelists Joyce Carol Oates and Jim Harrison, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, poet Philip Levine, and children's author/artist Gerald McDermott, the book is a treasure-trove of thoughtful and thought-provoking pieces.Next, my reaction:I could not put this book down. I read it in one sitting. It was absolutely riveting! Each time I read one author's story, I was transported to my own childhood, and I thought about how my mental and physical world when I was a kid compared to the one described in the story or essay. So many memories (both happy and sad) returned to me as I read the book, thoughts that might never have been evoked without the gentle prompting of the pieces in this anthology. One of the most important aspects of the book is its discussion (from many angles) of the inherent vulnerability of children. All over the world, children are subjected to domestic violence, war, random predatory assaults by strangers, poverty, and environmental destruction. This last point--the effects of commercial & industrial development on the physical landscape--was especially interesting to me. As adults we acquire views (pro or con) about saving, say...the rainforest and the Arctic wildlife refuge--views that are informed by politics, economics, and various other ideologies. But for a child, when a previously untouched landscape is developed, it makes the child's world smaller. It is one less place the child can explore, escape to, inhabit. The impact of a shrinking physical landscape on a child's life can be dramatic and dire--especially for children whose psychological or physical safety is at risk to begin with, in situations of abuse, neglect, war, or poverty.It's bad enough to think of endangered species that are displaced or made extinct by human endeavors, but suddenly to realize that children are a kind of endangered species, too--one that we are failing to protect in so many ways--is sobering. I highly recommend this book for anyone who cares about children, has children, knows children, or remembers being a chi