The concept of childhood in literature

The article analyzes the nature, types, characteristics of the phenomenon of childhood as a social phenomenon of our time. The author notes the complexity of the definition of “childhood” and its different interpretations. The author also notes that social “construction” considers not childhood itself in its entirety but childhood through the "prism of adulthood". Childhood is often seen as something natural through which goes everyone and something that everybody must have as a result of education and development. At the same time, is lost the understanding of childhood as a valuable phenomenon in itself. The author draws attention to different ways of studying childhood in psychology, literature and history and correlates concepts of childhood in psychology, history and culturology. The author considers the childhood concept by Philippe Aries in correlation with the image of childhood in the novels by Charles Dickens. This choice is determined by specific periodizations of childhood in history and culture what makes the specific development of the world of childhood dependent on the evolution of the world of grown-ups and its culture.