Companion to Victorian Popular Fiction

Morrison (English, Syracuse Univ.; Affections and Domesticities) collects in this volume more than 300 cross-referenced entries on mass-market British fiction published in the latter half of the 19th century. While similar, earlier works exist, such as The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction (1990), the focus on popular fiction is an important distinction. The introduction points to key changes in the Victorian literary landscape—such as an "explosion of print" and "dramatic increases in literacy rates," which deepened the divide in "serious" and more mainstream works. Aside from entries on individual novels, publications, and authors, there are sections addressing topics concerning the writers themselves. These are especially helpful in contextualizing subjects within the given period, which can be significantly different from how they're viewed today. For example, the chapter on "Health" explains that Victorian medical writers drew on an idea of well-being that emphasized "an individual's ability to function in society with the ease and equanimity befitting his or her age, class, gender, and geographic location," then notes philosopher Michel Foucault's argument that this serves to "advance middle-class ideology and the Imperial project."