''Eric, or, Little by Little'' is a book by

Frederic W. Farrar Frederic William Farrar (Bombay, 7 August 1831 – Canterbury, 22 March 1903) was a cleric of the Church of England ( Anglican), schoolteacher and author. He was a pallbearer at the funeral of Charles Darwin in 1882. He was a member of the Camb ...

, first edition 1858. It was published by Adam & Charles Black, Edinburgh and London. The book deals with the descent into moral turpitude of a boy at a boarding school or English

public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...

of that era. The author's preface to the fourth edition reads:

Summary

Eric Williams is a son of a British colonial official and his wife stationed in India. As was common at the time of the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

, Eric is sent to Britain to be educated at a boarding school—in this case Roslyn School, where he encounters the good and bad aspects of the traditional

. He slowly gets beaten down by being punished erroneously for wrongdoings, getting bullied and such things as drinking, smoking and cheating. The end is tragic for Eric, as he loses everything.

Background and reception

Along with

Talbot Baines Reed Talbot Baines Reed (3 April 1852 – 28 November 1893) was an English writer of young adult fiction, boys' fiction who established a genre of school story, school stories that endured into the mid-20th century. Among his best-known work is ' ...

's '' The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's'' and

Thomas Hughes Thomas Hughes (20 October 182222 March 1896) was an English lawyer, judge, politician and author. He is most famous for his novel ''Tom Brown's School Days'' (1857), a semi-autobiographical work set at Rugby School, which Hughes had attended. ...

' ''

Tom Brown's Schooldays ''Tom Brown's School Days'' (sometimes written ''Tom Brown's Schooldays'', also published under the titles ''Tom Brown at Rugby'', ''School Days at Rugby'', and ''Tom Brown's School Days at Rugby'') is an 1857 novel by Thomas Hughes. The stor ...

'', this book was one of three most popular boys' books in mid-Victorian Britain. The school is a thinly disguised cross between Farrar's own school

King William's College King William's College (nicknamed KWC or King Bill's; gv, Colleish Ree Illiam) is an independent school for pupils aged 3 to 18, located near Castletown on the Isle of Man. It is a member of the International Baccalaureate and Headmasters' and ...

in the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

, and Marlborough College, at which he was the master. The book is credited with helping to increase the popularity of the first name "

Eric The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...

" in English-speaking countries—although not with

Eric Arthur Blair Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...

(the writer and journalist George Orwell) who disliked his given name because of its association with Farrar's book. In later years, it fell out of favour, in part because of its religious earnestness. For example, in

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

's '' Stalky & Co.'', published late in 1899, the protagonist Beetle and his friends frequently made fun of "Eric", e.g.

E. Nesbit Edith Nesbit (married name Edith Bland; 15 August 1858 – 4 May 1924) was an English writer and poet, who published her books for children as E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on more than 60 such books. She was also a political activist a ...

included it in a list of didactic children's books which were "impossible to read."

Notes

References

* Carpenter, Humphrey and Mari Prichard. ''Oxford Companion to Children's Literature''. Oxford University Press, 1997. * Zipes, Jack (ed) et al. ''The Norton Anthology of Children's Literature: The Traditions in English.'' W. W. Norton, 2005. * Zipes, Jack (ed.). ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature. Volumes 1-4''. Oxford University Press, 2006. * Watson, Victor, ''The Cambridge Guide to Children's Books in English''. Cambridge University Press, 2001. * Demmers, Patricia (ed). ''From Instruction to Delight: An Anthology of Children's Literature to 1850'', Oxford University Press, 2003
Oxford University Press
. * St. John, Judith. ''The Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books, 1566-1910, A Catalogue'', Toronto Public Library.

External links

Project Gutenberg edition

PDF edition
at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

British Library: Children's Literature

British Library: Integrated Catalogue

Copac: Academic & National Library Catalogue
at the University of Manchester.
Library of Congress Online Catalog

National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eric, Or, Little By Little British children's novels 19th-century British children's literature 1858 British novels A & C Black books Novels set in boarding schools Victorian novels 1850s children's books English novels