Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The aim of this Companion is to provide contextual and critical information about the entire range of British fiction published during the Victorian period. It offers students, teachers, and general readers at all levels original, accessible chapters written from current critical and theoretical perspectives. In part I, each chapter provides an overview of one central context or issue, including the publishing world, education, social class and economics, nineteenth-century psychology, race and empire, religion, science, technology, the law, gender and women's rights, the fine arts, and the theater. In part II, the chapters survey the various forms of the Victorian novel: Newgate novels and detective fiction, historical fiction, the sensation novel, autobiographical fiction, Victorian versions of Gothic romance, regional fiction, industrial and “condition of England” novels, fiction for children, and science fiction. Part III deals with the reputations and canonization of such major authors as Charlotte Bronte and Charles Dickens; Victorian, modern, and postmodern theories applied to Victorian fiction; postmodern rewritings of Victorian novels; and film and television adaptations. The detailed and, we hope, conveniently constructed index will enable cross-referencing and study of a broad spectrum of authors, novels, themes, and controversies. Bibliographies following each chapter ... log in or subscribe to read full text