Of all the children’s writers who published during the boom in classic children’s fiction between 1880 and 1914, Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932) is perhaps the best known. His name is synonymous with

The Wind in the Willows

(1908), but Grahame enjoyed considerable literary success prior to the publication of this children’s classic. An employee of the Bank of England, he began a parallel career as a journalist in 1888 regularly contributing reviews and sketches to the

National Observer

and publishing stories in literary magazines, including the

Yellow Book

. In both his children’s writings and collections of essays, notably

Pagan Papers

(1893),

The Golden Age

(1895), and

Dream Days

(1898), Grahame creates fictional worlds that are evocative and enduring child-like fantasies about…

2019 words

Citation: Desmarais, Jane. "Kenneth Grahame". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 October 2017 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1832, accessed 21 November 2024.]

1832 Kenneth Grahame 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.