Victorian Sensations: Essays on a Scandalous Genre

Harrison (English, Florida International U.) and Fantina (English, U. of Miami, Coral Gables) present twenty essays introducing and exploring Victorian sensation fiction– as well as challenging its widely accepted “subgenre” status. Contributors aim to explain the popularity of novels featuring sexual scandal, murder, drug abuse, and bigamy in morally chaste Victorian England, illuminating how critics of the day demonized authors like Mary Elizabeth Braddon. Other chapters discuss the sensation novel’s treatment of corporeality, sexuality, gender, class, race, and culture; and show how Dickens and other major Victorian authors treaded into and were influenced by the sensation genre. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)