Pamela K. Gilbertfs A Companion to Sensation Fiction
assembles a set of lucid and informed essays that bid for the history,
artistry, and ongoing cultural significance of the sensation genre. The
volume, the first of its kind to address sensation fiction ... brings
together established authorities with some newer critical voices to
offer comprehensive coverage. The Companion addresses familiar
contextual issues in the field\imperialism, the history of medicine, and
the role of the periodical press\and ranges over subgenres from silver
fork novels to twenty-first-century neo-Victorianism, and methods from legal history to cognitivism. The Companion divides sections along the lines of genre history, individual authors, and themes. ... The second section, gReading Individual Authors and Texts, 1860–1880,h provides interpretive biography of the best known writers as well as thematic readings of the more commonly taught novels. ... This section also includes eight chapters on other figures, from Sheridan Le Fanu and Rhoda Broughton to Charlotte Brame and Mary Cecil Hay (the discussion of the latter [by Graham Law] showcases the rewards of print history). ... Elisha Cohn, Victorian Studies 55:4 (Summer 2013) |