Sensation fiction emerged in the 1860s, and immediately generated alarm as many critics viewed the genre as a threat to prevailing Victorian values. Charles Reade, along with Wilkie Collins and Mary Elizabeth Braddon, was among the most well-known sensation novelists. With its explicit critique of power relations in the fields of medicine, criminal justice, and sexual mores, Reade's work anticipates Michel Foucault's theories elaborated a century later. Reade's work also provides rare glimpses of alternative sexualities and gender identities in nineteenth-century fiction. This book recovers the fiction of Charles Reade as a body of work that anticipates recent trends in literary and cultural theory.

Ernest Hemingway nearly defined machismo for many American men of the twentieth century. Yet, in recent years critics have discerned an "androgynous" sexuality beneath the surface stoicism of Hemingway's heroes. This study breaks new ground by examining the profoundly submissive and masochistic posture toward women exhibited by many of Hemingway's heroes, from Jake Barnes in "The Sun Also Rises "to David Bourne in "The Garden of Eden," The discussion draws on the ideas of authors as diverse as Sacher-Masoch, Freud, Deleuze, and others, and reveals that despite Hemingway's rugged and hypermasculine image, a "masochistic aesthetic" informs many of the texts. This accessible treatment of a complex subject will appeal to readers with an interest in Hemingway, gender issues, and American literature.

This study breaks new ground by examining the profoundly submissive and masochistic posture toward women exhibited by many of Hemingway's heroes, from Jake Barnes in The Sun Also Rises to David Bourne in The Garden of Eden. The discussion draws on the ideas of diverse authors revealing that 'masochistic aesthetic' informs many of the texts.

This book recovers the fiction of Charles Reade, who was among the best-known authors of the sensation fiction of the 1860s, as a body of work that anticipates recent trends in literary and cultural theory.