Streatfeild Project: The following pitches have been made so far.
| Apple Bough, social class and the importance of home? |
| Ballet dancers’ ambition |
| Caldicott Place and Streatfield’s found families |
| class and life trajectory from [When] The Siren Wailed, |
| Food |
| her books through the lens of modern (esp queer) found family trope discussion. Especially the canal people and theatre troupe in TC/FTG. |
| I’d like to write something about Victoria’s writing in A Vicarage Family and look at what it means to be a ‘young girl writing’. |
| Jane’s black dog and The Painted Garden. |
| Maiden, Mother & Menopause in the adult fictions of Noel Streatfield |
| maybe on the “villains” in some books (Thursday’s Child, Dancing Shoes, Apple Bough) or about her representations of femininity/masculinity, or about queerness of various kinds (individuals, relationships, spaces) |
| money in Streatfeild and how children are expected to budget; and differences between American and British editions of key books. |
| NS and the female work ethic (everything she ever wrote); and representations of mothers (practically everything she ever wrote); and housework (ABs Polly v BFs Cathy); and food (fat Nanas v skinny Aunties); and the body (Lalla’s ‘naughty curves’). No more tweet room… |
| something on the Gemma books (Streatfield does sixties/seventies teens) or the “ordinary” child in her books |
| Streatfield and the Three Act Play; structure, form, stock characters, insightful dialogue |
| Susan Scarlett novels |
| the Painted Garden please? There’s something there about the idea of a platonic “America that will save us” in British fiction, and also about seeing child heroes as grown ups. |
| The place of the nannies,servants,governesses and tutors in Streatfeild’s books.(They are so often far more competent than those who are employing them). |
| the way she deals with history? I’m thinking of the Margaret Thursday books but also the pageants in Gemma and Party Frock, and of course The Fearless Treasure. |
| White Boots and the fragile female sporting body |
Streatfeild’s full output can be found here.
The following people have signed up to take part.
| Jennifer Trueland | Caroline Mullan | Kay Waddilove |
| Gili Bar-Hillel | Marianne | |
| Gillian Polack (or Dr Gillian Polack, if you prefer) | Wendy Bradley | Aishwarya Subramanian |
| Amanda Finch | Jane Carnall | Andi C. Buchanan |
| Louise Johnson | Alison Baker | Caroline Webb |
| Virginia Preston | Jeannelle M. Ferreira | Lotte Reinbold |
| Ruth Davies | Rebecca Mills | AJHall |
| Joanne Simpson | Maia Cheli | Laura Carter |
| Elizabeth Chakrabarty | Alyc Helms | Farah Mendlesohn |
Farah Mendlesohn 