Abstract
Children are consistently and powerfully associated with flight in interwar literature and culture. This association with the child subtly challenges dominant accounts—both contemporary and subsequent—of interwar aviation and its attractions as profoundly linked to totalitarian power and violence, as this chapter argues through a close reading of John Masefield’s 1935 novel The Box of Delights. Exploring Masefield’s juxtaposition of sacred and modern forms of flight alongside the enduring wonder of aviation for the child, this chapter places The Box of Delights within the context of children’s interwar fiction and culture, arguing that this context forms an essential element in the cultural history of modern flight, its spectacles and its enduring significance.
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Dean, D. (2020). When the Wolves Were Flying: The Box of Delights and Flight in 1930s Children’s Literature. In: McCluskey, M., Seaber, L. (eds) Aviation in the Literature and Culture of Interwar Britain. Studies in Mobilities, Literature, and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60555-1_13
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