ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the tradition of the so-called naughty child story and its subversive humour. It aims to study the modern Western concept of the child through the stories that instead of openly agitating for the good and decent behaviour of children, allow their readers to adopt a morally ambivalent attitude towards the behavioural norms of the surrounding culture. The chapter focuses on the development of the genre in Finland at the beginning of the twentieth century, and more specifically in Jalmari Finne's Kiljusen herrasväki series. It also examines how Finne uses subversive humour to portray naughty children without any intention to morally educate his audience. The chapter shows the complex relations between the concept of modern childhood and the classic character of the naughty child. It uses certain kind of ideologically critical approach towards children's literature and its pedagogical undertones or, conversely, its lack of them.
