"Animated by scandals, scoundrels and imposters, this collection, with contributions from prominent scholars of literature, history and law, seeks to address issues of identity, trust and deception in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain through the optic of the twin concepts of legitimacy and illegitimacy"--Provided by publisher.

This volume comprises of a substantial selection of E.S. Dallas’s journalism in The Times. Although his reviews were crucial not only in forging the literary reputations of upcoming writers such as different as George Eliot and Mary Elizabeth Braddon, but also in recalibrating the response to well-established authors such as Tennyson and Dickens, Eneas Sweetland Dallas (1827-79) remains arguably the most unjustly neglected of mid-Victorian critics. Although Dallas wrote for many other periodicals, it was his reviews in The Times that had the greatest impact on both the market for books and literary culture in the mid-Victorian period. This collection brings together an anthology of his contributions, as well as a newly written introduction, a comprehensive listing of the articles he submitted to The Times, critical apparatus to contextualise the materials, and a detailed chronology, reappraising Dallas’ biography. This volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of literary history.

First published in 2005, this collection of essays brings together British, European and North American literary critics and cultural historians with diverse specialities and interests to demonstrate the range of contemporary perspectives through which George Gissing's fiction can be viewed. It offers both closely contextualised historical readings and broader cultural and philosophical assessments and engages with a number of themes including: the cultural and social formation of class and gender, social mobility and its unsettling effects on individual and collective identities, the place of writing in emerging mass culture, and the possibility and limits of fiction as critical intervention. This book will be of interest to those studying the works of George Gissing, and 19th century literature more broadly.

First published in 2005, this collection of essays brings together British, European and North American literary critics and cultural historians with diverse specialities and interests to demonstrate the range of contemporary perspectives through which George Gissing's fiction can be viewed. It offers both closely contextualised historical readings and broader cultural and philosophical assessments and engages with a number of themes including: the cultural and social formation of class and gender, social mobility and its unsettling effects on individual and collective identities, the place of writing in emerging mass culture, and the possibility and limits of fiction as critical intervention. This book will be of interest to those studying the works of George Gissing, and 19th century literature more broadly.

This anthology of primary materials will help redraw our understanding of the complexity and range of Victorian psychological thought. Areas covered include: phrenology and mesmerism; theories of dreams, memory, and the unconscious; female and masculine sexuality; insanity and nervous disorders; and theories of degeneration. Texts have been chosen from a wide variety of scientific, medical, and cultural sources to illustrate the social range of these debates. Embodies Selves will be of interest to both specialist and non-specialist audiences in the areas of cultural, literary, historical, and gender studies.

Valeria Woodville's first act as a married woman is to sign her name in the marriage register incorrectly, and this slip is followed by the gradual disclosure of a series of secrets about her husband's earlier life, each of which leads on to another set of questions and enigmas. Her discoveries prompt her to defy her husband's authority, to take the law into into a labyrinthine maze of false clues and deceptive identities, in which the exploration of the tangled workings of the mind becomes linked to an investigation into the masquerades of femininity. Probably the first full-length novel with a woman detective as its heroine, The Law and the Lady is a fascinating example of Collins's later fiction. First published in 1875, it employs many of the techniques used in The Moonstone, developing them in bizarre and unexpected ways, and in its Gothic and fantastic elements The Law and the Lady adds a significant dimension to the history of detective fiction. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

This innovative book draws together literature, law and economic and social history to investigate the meanings and uses of legitimacy in nineteenth-century Britain. This broad range of essays highlights the ways in which contested narratives and interested performances shaped the idea of legitimate authority during this period.

Wilkie Collins was one of the most popular writers of the nineteenth century. He is best known for The Woman in White, which inaugurated the sensation novel in the 1860s, and The Moonstone, one of the first detective novels; but he wrote over 20 novels, plays and short stories during a career that spanned four decades. This Companion offers a fascinating overview of Collins's writing. In a wide range of essays by leading scholars, it traces the development of his career, his position as a writer and his complex relation to contemporary cultural movements and debates. Collins's exploration of the tensions which lay beneath Victorian society is analysed through a variety of critical approaches. A chronology and guide to further reading are provided, making this book an indispensable guide for all those interested in Wilkie Collins and his work.

Wilkie Collins was one of the most popular writers of the nineteenth century. He is best known for The Woman in White, which inaugurated the sensation novel in the 1860s, and The Moonstone, one of the first detective novels; but he wrote over 20 novels, plays and short stories during a career that spanned four decades. This Companion offers a fascinating overview of Collins's writing. In a wide range of essays by leading scholars, it traces the development of his career, his position as a writer and his complex relation to contemporary cultural movements and debates. Collins's exploration of the tensions which lay beneath Victorian society is analysed through a variety of critical approaches. A chronology and guide to further reading are provided, making this book an indispensable guide for all those interested in Wilkie Collins and his work.

The Oxford History of the Novel in English is a 12-volume series presenting a comprehensive, global, and up-to-date history of English-language prose fiction and written by a large, international team of scholars. The series is concerned with novels as a whole, not just the 'literary' novel, and each volume includes chapters on the processes of production, distribution, and reception, and on popular fiction and the fictional sub-genres, as well as outlining the work of major novelists, movements, traditions, and tendencies.
Volume 3, The Nineteenth-Century Novel 1820-1800 charts one of the most significant and exciting periods in the history of the genre. Beginning with the decade in which Scott's work helped inaugurate the three-volume novel, and in which many narrative genres, conventions, and preoccupations associated with Victorian fiction first emerged, it traces how these forms developed and changed in the mid nineteenth century, as the novel became established at the centre of British national culture. The volume includes sections on book history, on major authors, and on the varieties of fiction and range of narrative modes during the period. It also features essays on theories of the novel, and on the novel's relationship to other aesthetic forms. Volume 3 also emphasizes the wider cultural role and significance of the novel during the period, including its impact on ideas of place and nation, as well as its intervention in political, scientific, and intellectual contexts.