'Producing Beyond Sensation at a time when Braddon
criticism could benefit from some reshaping and updating allows this collection
to be labeled "groundbreaking." And there are many excellent essays, including
Gilbert's on Braddon's negotiation of the two genres of sensationalism and
realism, particularly in Joshua Haggard's Daughter; Tabitha Sparks's
discussion of how representations of women, such as Isabel Sleaford in The
Doctor's Wife, are limited by similar negotiation of genres (in this case,
sensationalism, realism, and sentimentalism); Toni Johnson-Woods's interesting
and entertaining piece on Braddon's popularity in Australia in the 1870s,
1880s, and 1890s; and Carnell & Law's useful research on Braddon's publication
in British provincial weeklies beginning in the early 1870s. As a result,
Beyond Sensation will have a strong influence on the future
direction of Braddon criticism.' Molly Youngkin, California State University, Dominguez Hills Review in Women's Writing, 8:2 (2001) 339-42 |
'Law and.Jennifer Carnell, in the longest of the contributions,
offer what is effectively an over-view of her whole later career in their
study of her relationship with the newspaper syndication agencies and of the
financial and artistic implications of her punishing writing schedule. Amongst
their useful factual information is a table ... giving all the known details
of her newspaper serialization from 1876 to1901.' Helen Debenham, University of Canterbury, New Zealand Review in Nineteenth-Century Contexts, 26:3 (2002) 192-4 |
'In addition to focusing
on readings of Braddon's best-known novels, the collection also explores
the status of her literary output within the cultural marketplace. Toni
Johnson Woods's essay on Braddon's representations of Australia and her
reception there is packed with interesting background on publishing history,
as is the important essay by Jennifer Carnell and Graham Law on the serialization
of Braddon's novels in local journals and newspapers.' Ann Cvetkovich, University of Texas at Austin Review in Victorian Studies 45:3 (Spring 2003) 547-9 |
'Graham Law and Jennifer
Carnell offer the only collaborative essay in the collection, a discussion
of their research into Braddon's relationship with the provincial weeklies
that reveals a firm command of the material. It includes thorough analysis
of the motives that give rise to Braddon's choice of different genres
at different times in her life.' Carolyn Oulton, Canterbury Christ Church University College Review in USC English Department's Webpages New Books in Nineteenth-Century British Studies |
Emma Liggins, Edge Hill College Several citiations in 'Her Mercenary Spirit: Women, Money and Marriage in Mary Elizabeth Braddon's 1870s Fiction', Women's Writing 11:1 (2004) |
'The book's most important
essay is by Graham Law and Jennifer Carnell, whose argument is based
in part on the information generated by Law for his Serializing Fiction
in the Victorian Press. Casting doubt on the easy elision of 1860s
sensation fiction with lowerclass reading which is so often made by others
who write about Braddon (including several in this volume), "'Our Author':
Braddon in the Provincial Weeklies" persuasively argues that "In the 1860s
there is a sharp cleavage in Braddon's fiction between those novels aimed
at the popular market for penny and shilling dreadfuls and those issued
in the middle-brow monthlies and for the circulating libraries" (140).
It was not, Law believes, the famous early books such as Lady Audley's
Secret and Aurora Floyd which had broad class readership but
the books after 1873, when syndication made it possible for Braddon to enjoy
the income from weekly publication in the provinces "without compromising
[a book's] status for the libraries or the reviewers" (140).' Sally Mitchell, Temple University Comments in Review Essay 'Reading Class', Victorian Literature and Culture 33:1 (March 2005) 331-339 |