A New Companion to Victorian Literature and Culture

The Victorian period was a time of rapid cultural change, which resulted in a huge and varied literary output. A New Companion to Victorian Literature and Culture offers experienced guidance to the literature of nineteenth–century Britain and its social and historical context. This revised and expanded edition comprises contributions from over 30 leading scholars who, approaching the Victorian epoch from different positions and traditions, delve into the unruly complexities of the Victorian imagination. Divided into five parts, this new companion surveys seven decades of history before examining the keys phases in a Victorian life, the leading professions and walks of life, the major Victorian literary genres, and the way Victorians defined their persons, their homes, and their national identities. Important topics such as sexuality, denominational faith, social class, and global empire inform each chapter’s approach. Each chapter provides a comprehensive bibliography of established and emerging scholarship.

Notes on Contributors ix Introduction xvi PART ONE History in Focus 1 1 1832 3 Lawrence Poston 2 1851 19 Antony H. Harrison 3 1870 35 Linda K. Hughes 4 1897 52 Stephen Arata PART TWO Passages of Life 67 5 Growing Up: Childhood 69 Claudia Nelson 6 Moving Out: Adolescence 82 Chris R. Vanden Bossche 7 Growing Old: Age 97 Teresa Mangum 8 Passing On: Death 110 Gerhard Joseph and Herbert F. Tucker 9 Victorian Sexualities 124 James Eli Adams PART THREE Walks of Life 139 10 Clerical 141 Christine L. Krueger 11 Legal 156 Simon Petch and Jan–Melissa Schramm 12 Medical 172 Lawrence Rothfi eld 13 Military 186 John R. Reed 14 Educational 197 Thomas William Heyck 15 Administrative 216 Michael Hunt 16 Financial 230 Christina Crosby 17 Industrial 249 Herbert Sussman 18 Commercial 264 Jennifer Wicke 19 Artistic 284 Julie Codell 20 Spectacle 299 Joss Marsh 21 Publishing 312 Richard D. Altick and James Mussell PART FOUR Kinds of Writing 331 22 Poetry 333 E. Warwick Slinn 23 Fiction 349 Hilary M. Schor 24 Drama 364 Alan Fischler 25 Life Writing 381 Timothy Peltason 26 Sage Writing 399 Linda H. Peterson 27 Historiography 414 Edward Adams 28 Literary Criticism 430 David E. Latané, Jr PART FIVE Borders 447 29 Permeable Protections: The Working Life of Victorian Skin 449 Helena Michie 30 On the Parapets of Privacy 462 Karen Chase and Michael Levenson 31 “Then on the Shore of this Wide World”: The Victorian Nation and its Others 475 James Buzard 32 On the Neo–Victorian, Now and Then 493 Ann Heilmann and Mark Llewellyn Index of Works Cited 507 General Subject Index 519

Herbert F. Tucker is John C. Coleman Professor of English Language and Literature, University of Virginia. His books include Victorian Literature 1830–1900 (edited with Dorothy Mermin, 2001) and Epic: Britain’s Heroic Muse 1790–1910 (2008, 2012). He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, associate editor for New Literary History , and series editor in Victorian Literature and Culture for the University of Virginia Press.

US & Canada requested by the editor Victorian Studies (Indiana) Victorian Poetry (West Virginia) Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net (Eleanor Courtemanche – University of Illinois) Review 19 (Dartmouth) Victorian Literature and Culture (Anne Humpherys – The Graduate Center, CUNY) Nineteenth–Century Literature (California) Studies in English Literature 1500–1900 (Rice University, Texas) Victorians Institute Journal (Kentucky) Nineteenth–Century Contexts (Barbara Black – Skidmore College) UK & ROW requested by the editor Journal of Victorian Culture (Rohan McWilliam – Anglia Ruskin University) BAVS Newsletter (Dr Alexandra Lewis – University of Aberdeen) Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (Kirby–Jane Hallum – University of Otago) Essays in Criticism TLS THE Dr Kirstie Blair, 18th and 19th Centuries Literature Editor, The Year’s Work in English Studies English Studies