2。 Literature Review

Francesco Hodgson Burnett and her work A Little Princess have attracted wide concern in literary field since the publication of the book。 Until nowadays, this novel remains one of the most beloved and popular of children’s fictions。

In recent years, an increasing number of scholars have researched the novel。 Some scholars like Li Chen, from Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, has made an analysis on the changeable fate of characters in A Little Princess from the perspective of identity recognition。 Based on the key word-identity in the study of western culture, it takes the identity as a breakthrough point to analyze the destiny of protagonists。

There are also some researches from other points of view。 For instance, Yu Qingchu, from Wuhan Engineering Institute, has researched Sara’s characteristics and the influence in A Little Princess。 It pays attention to the primary personality of Sara’s traits and the imply she brings to the around people inside the book and the faithful readers outside the book。文献综述

Wang Xueqing, has published an analysis of A Little Princess from the Perspective of Psychoanalysis。 She holds the opinion that many views of psychoanalytic criticism are involved with life and human nature from literature angle, which becomes a basic perspective of modern literature to understand life and art。 Liu Ye has studied A Little Princess from the perspective from receptional aesthetic。 His discussion concerns for the original aesthetic experience of readers and attaches great importance to the beauty of the theme and idea of the book, which also centers on the readers and takes care of their reading requirements。

During the years, there are numerous researches that have studied this book and used different kinds of theories, whereas few of them make explorations on humanism about this book。 As a result, this paper explores A Little Princess from the perspective of humanism。 Some critics simply analyze various characters in this novel without any further study。 Based on the above, this paper dedicates fully and completely to analyze the humanism in this book in terms of the pursuit of liberty, the desire for equality and the maintenance of dignity。 Therefore, this paper aims to explore humanism so as to bring a new perspective to interpret this fiction。

“The essence of humanism consisted in a new and vital perception of the dignity of man as a rational being apart from theological determinations, and in the further perception that classic literature alone displayed human nature in the plenitude of intellectual and moral freedom。 It was partly a reaction against ecclesiastical despotism, partly an attempt to find the point of unity for all that had been thought and done by man, within the mind restored to consciousness of its own sovereign faculty。” (Symonds 52)