Abstract

Beatrix Potter kept a journal in code from 1881, when she turned sixteen, till 1897. The Tale of Peter Rabbit was privately printed in 1901, and by Frederick Warne a year later. This talk considers the ways in which Potter grew into being a phenomenally successful author, artistically and financially. The creatures in her tales are often escaping, defying the boundaries set for them. Reading, writing and drawing provided Potter with a passport to freedom from the Victorian world of her childhood and early adult life.

Juliet Dusinberre, author of Shakespeare and the Nature of Women (3rd ed. 2003) and Alice to the Lighthouse (2nd ed. 1999) and editor of Arden 3 As You Like It, is working on a new book, Why Read? Why Write? which will discuss a variety of authors, including Beatrix Potter, the Barrow diarist Nella Last, Arthur Ransome, and Wilfred Owen. “Arthur Ransome: Beginning at the End,” is about to appear in the Cambridge Literary Review.