ABSTRACT
Two novels are important in the genre during the next period as exemplars o f the great changes that occurred. These are Rudyard Kipling’s Stalky and Co. (1899) and Alec Waugh’s The Loom o f Youth (1917). They will be closely examined here prior to looking at the more detailed developments in the next chapter. Stalky and Co. was written by an already established writer, aged forty-four, for boys, but was also much read by men. The Loom o f Youth was written by an unknown boy of seventeen for men, but was also read and reacted to by boys. Both were critical o f public schools and o f some school stories - Waugh more so than Kipling. The genre was not only becoming increasingly critical, but it was, in addition, differentiating into school stories for adults and those for boys with a broad ground in the middle where some school stories could be and were read by both men and boys.
