The Cambridge Companion to the Victorian Novel

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In the Victorian period, the British novel reached a wide readership and played a major role in the shaping of national and individual identity. As we come to understand the ways the novel contributed to public opinion on religion, gender, sexuality and race, we continue to be entertained and enlightened by the works of Dickens, George Eliot, Thackeray, Trollope and many others. This second edition of the Companion to the Victorian Novel has been updated fully, taking account of new research and critical methodologies. There are four new chapters and the others have been thoroughly updated, as has the guide to further reading. Designed to appeal to students, teachers and readers, these essays reflect the latest approaches to reading and understanding Victorian fiction.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Chronology
• Introduction Deirdre David
• 1 The Victorian novel and its readers
• 2 The business of Victorian publishing
• 3 A history of criticism of the Victorian novel
• 4 Victorian realism
• 5 Intellectual debate in the Victorian novel: religion and science
• 6 Race and the Victorian novel
• 7 Social class and the Victorian novel
• 8 When gender meets sexuality in the Victorian novel
• 9 Victorian feelings
• 10 Sensation and the fantastic in the Victorian novel
• 11 The transatlantic novel in the nineteenth century
• Guide to further reading
• Index

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

In this contribution to the ongoing "Cambridge Companions to Literature" series, David (Temple Univ.) has assembled a collection of original essays by such leading Victorian scholars as Nancy Armstrong, Patrick Brantlinger, John Kucich, and Linda Shires, among others. Although some of the essays may overlap in focus, they can be read independently and in any order. Early chapters deal with Victorian publishing conventions and questions of readership; later chapters provide introductions to Victorian treatments of industrial culture, gender and sexuality, and race. Though individual essays occasionally refer to minor works from the period, most contributors focus squarely on canonical authors and texts typically read in undergraduate coursework (e.g., the Brontes, Dickens, Eliot, Hardy, Thackeray, et al.). Notes and bibliographic citations also reflect the intended undergraduate audience; documentation is not extensive, but the volume lists selected books for further reading. The essays are uniformly excellent, but Robert Weisbuch's chapter on the relationship between 19th-century British and American novelists stands out since that topic is often not addressed in British literature courses. Geared for upper-division undergraduate English majors and beginning graduate students, this volume is clearly intended for classroom use but should also be in every library's collection. R. D. Morrison Morehead State University