Transnational Femininities Fictions for Teenage Girls in the U.K. and the U.S., 1910-1965

I wonder what Marjorie Dean, Grace Harlowe, and their chums would make of women’s basketball today. As the Final Four of the NCAA Division I tournament unfolds, one thinks of how much the game has changed since its introduction in the 1890s. Certainly the uniforms are quite different, as are the rules. According to the Spalding Guide published in 1911, “When a ball has been caught with both hands it shall not be bounded on the floor, but must be thrown within three seconds … . If a player catches the ball with one hand she may bound it on the floor with one hand, once only, in order to catch it with both hands securely” (p. 18). No such thing as a fast break!  Players could only move within one-third of the court.

But, despite the limitations imposed by the rules, basketball provided both fictional characters and their real life counterparts with opportunities for physical exertion and competition, as well as new opportunities to socialize with other young women.

Girls’ series books have been the subject of several papers at the Mid-Atlantic Popular/American Culture conference being held this weekend in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Several papers, part of the Childhood Studies strand, have featured US stories with a WW1 connection. Nancy’s paper, “Children and Adults in American and British Schoolgirl Fiction” is a modified version of the paper she recently gave at the Center for the History of Women’s Education at the University of Winchester.

Nancy traveled to the University of Winchester to present a seminar entitled  “‘[A] fine  woman, much admired’: Adults in British and American Schoolgirl Novels” for the Centre for the History of Women’s Education. The paper focused on what readers could learn about appropriate behavior from the actions of adult figures in novels written about school life.

Sport plays a vital role in British and American schoolgirl stories. This aspect of the stories is one key source of appeal for Stephanie and Nancy, as both were athletes in their school days and beyond. Stephanie played right back in hockey, wing attack in netball, and tennis, while Nancy played left back in hockey and goalkeeper in lacrosse. Stephanie continues as a keen tennis player, while Nancy coached high school hockey and lacrosse for many years.

The team heads to London next week, where Nancy will be presenting a paper at the 20th annual conference of the UK Women’s History Network. The paper, entitled Sociability and Space in Schoolgirl Stories, will draw on evidence from the Marjorie Dean and Dimsie series.

On a recent trip to England, at the suggestion of Gerry Holloway, Nancy drove along the seacoast from Brighton to see the Roedean School, perched on the cliffs. As faithful readers of schoolgirl stories will know, a cliffside setting is essential for dramatic episodes. The Roedean School is said to be an inspiration for Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers tales.