Neo-Victorianism and Sensation Fiction

Description

This book represents the first full-length study of the relationship between neo-Victorianism and nineteenth-century sensation fiction. It examines the diverse and multiple legacies of Victorian popular fiction by authors such as Wilkie Collins and Mary Elizabeth Braddon, tracing their influence on a range of genres and works, including detective fiction, YA writing, Gothic literature, and stage and screen adaptations. In doing so, it forces a reappraisal of critical understandings of neo-Victorianism in terms of its origins and meanings, as well as offering an important critical intervention in popular fiction studies. The work traces the afterlife of Victorian sensation fiction, taking in the neo-Gothic writing of Daphne du Maurier and Victoria Holt, contemporary popular historical detective and YA fiction by authors including Elizabeth Peters and Philip Pullman, and the literary fiction of writers such as Joanne Harris and Charles Palliser. The work will appeal to scholars and students of Victorian fiction, neo-Victorianism, and popular culture alike. Front Matter ....Pages i-xi Introduction: The Victorian Sensation Novel—Afterlives and Legacies (Jessica Cox)....Pages 1-37 Front Matter ....Pages 39-39 Neo-Gothic Sensations (Jessica Cox)....Pages 41-72 Criminal Sensations: Neo-Victorian Detectives (Jessica Cox)....Pages 73-102 Repackaging the Sensation Novel: Neo-Victorian Young Adult Fiction (Jessica Cox)....Pages 103-137 Front Matter ....Pages 139-139 (Re)Presenting (Sexual) Trauma (Jessica Cox)....Pages 141-163 Excavating the Victorians: Digging Up the Past (Jessica Cox)....Pages 165-192 Sensational Legacies: Tropes of Inheritance (Jessica Cox)....Pages 193-217 Conclusion: ‘Substantial Ghosts’—Sensational Continuities and Legacies (Jessica Cox)....Pages 219-226 Back Matter ....Pages 227-251