Sensation novel

The sensation novel was a literary genre of fiction popular in Great Britain in the 1860s and 1870s,[1] following on from earlier melodramatic novels and the Newgate novels, which focused on tales woven around criminal biographies. It also drew on the gothic and romantic genres of fiction. The sensation novel's appearance notably follows the Industrial Revolution, which made books available on a mass scale for people of all social standings[2] and increased the sensation novel's popularity. Sensation novels used both modes of romance and realism to the extreme where in the past they had traditionally been contradictory modes of literature. The sensation novelists commonly wrote stories that were allegorical and abstract; the abstract nature of the stories gave the authors room to explore scenarios that wrestled with the social anxieties[3] of the Victorian Era. The loss of identity is seen in many sensation fiction stories because this was a common social anxiety; in Britain, there was an increased use in record keeping[4] and therefore people questioned the meaning and permanence of identity. The social anxiety regarding identity is reflected in stories, such as, The Woman in White and Lady Audley's Secret.[5]

The genre of sensation fiction was established by the publications of the following novels The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins in 1859; East Lynne by Ellen Wood in 1861; Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon in 1862.[6] Perhaps the earliest use of the term, sensation fiction, as a name for such novels appears in the 1861 edition of the Saunders, Otley, & co.'s Literary Budget.[7]

The neo-Victorian novel of New Zealand author Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries, which won the 2013 Man Booker Prize, has been described as being heavily based on sensation literature, with its plot devices of "suspect wills and forged documents, secret marriages, illegitimacy and opium".[8]

Influences

Sensation novelists drew on the influences of melodrama, gothicism, and the Newgate novel to explore themes considered provocative by societal norms and to question the artificiality of identity. In the 1860s, the sensation novels and theatre became closely intertwined; many of the famous sensation novelists wrote as well for the stage.[3] Dickens, Reade, and Collins all wrote and acted for the theatre and for many novelists, the stage helped them to gain recognition as an author. Peter Brooks defines melodrama as an attempt, "to find, to articulate, to demonstrate, to 'prove' the existence of a moral universe which, though put into question, masked by villainy and perversions of judgement, does exist and can be made to assert its presence.[3]

The gothic influence on the sensation novel is described by Laurence Talairach-Vielmas

secrecy and the body go hand in hand, and the more sensation novels highlight the elusiveness or artificiality of human identity, the more hair-raising Gothic loci appear as the ultimate place where fragment of truth can be recollected and reunited and story rewritten.[9]

A common gothic influence seen in the sensation novels is the search for a secret. Moreover, crime scenes at wells or near water are symbolic of the "depth" which is a key element of gothic fiction. The sensation novel puts a modern spin on the classic gothic ghost stories by placing the stories in contemporary settings and this produces the effect of creating a terror that is real and believable. Le Fanu's story, "Green Tea", is exemplary of the sensation novelists desire to explore the path less trodden. The main character, Jennings, inadvertently opens up an inner eye that can see the spiritual world after consuming too much green tea.[10]

Sensation novels drew influence as well from the Newgate novels that were popular during the 1830s and 40s; similarly to the sensation novel, Newgate novels created much controversy and debate.[11] Authors of both genres found inspiration in newspaper police reports; the crime mysteries of the sensation novels, however, were less interested in actually catching the criminal and instead focused more on the criminal's identity and how they became a criminal.[12]

Themes and reception

Typically the sensation novel focused on shocking subject matter including adultery, theft, kidnapping, insanity, bigamy, forgery, seduction and murder.[13] It distinguished itself from other contemporary genres, including the Gothic novel, by setting these themes in ordinary, familiar and often domestic settings, thereby undermining the common Victorian-era assumption that sensational events were something foreign and divorced from comfortable middle-class life. W. S. Gilbert satirised these works in his 1871 comic opera, A Sensation Novel. For Anthony Trollope, however, the best novels should be "at the same time realistic and sensational...and both in the highest degree".[14]

When sensation novels burst upon a quiescent England these novels became immediate best sellers, surpassing all previous book sales records. However, high brow critics writing in academic journals of the day decried the phenomenon and criticized its practitioners (and readers) in the harshest terms; John Ruskin perhaps providing the most thoughtful criticism in his 'Fiction - Fair and Foul'.[15] The added notoriety derived from reading the novels probably served only to contribute to their popularity.[16] Dean Mansel from the Quarterly, described the sensation novel as, "extremely provocative of that sensation in the palate and throat which is a premonitory symptom of nausea."[3]

Notable examples

Contemporary tributes

Award-winning writer Sarah Waters stated that her third, critically acclaimed novel Fingersmith (Virago Press, 2002) is meant as a tribute to the sensational novel genre.[17][18]

See also

References

  1. ↑ I. Ousby ed., The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English (1995) p. 844
  2. ↑ Muller, C. "Victorian Sensationalism: The Short Stories of Wilkie Collins." Unisa English Studies. 11.1 (1973): 12-13. Web. 8 Jun. 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Hughes, Winifred. The Maniac in the Cellar. Princeton: Princeton University, 1980. Print.
  4. ↑ Pykett Lyn. "The Newgate novel and sensation fiction, 1830-1868." Crime Fiction. Ed. Martin Priestman. Cambridge: Cambridge University, 2003. 19-39. Print
  5. ↑ Talairach-Vielmas, Laurence. "Sensation Fiction: A Peep Behind the Veil." The Victorian Gothic. Ed. Smith, Andrew, and William Hughes. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University, 2012. 29-42. Print
  6. ↑ Loesberg, Jonathan. Ideology of Narrative Form in Sensation. University of California, 1986. JSTOR. Web. 10 Jun. 2014.
  7. ↑ Saunders, Otley, & Co.'s. "Literature." Literary Budget 1 Nov. 1861: 38. Web. 10 Jun. 2014.
  8. ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/04/john-mullan-book-club-luminaries-eleanor-catton
  9. ↑ Talairach-Vielmas, Laurence. “Sensation Fiction: A Peep Behind the Veil.” The Victorian Gothic. Ed. Smith, Andrew, and William Hughes. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University, 2012. 29-42. Print
  10. ↑ Talairach-Vielmas, Laurence. “Sensation Fiction: A Peep Behind the Veil.” The Victorian Gothic. Ed. Smith, Andrew, and William Hughes. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University, 2012. 29-42. Print
  11. ↑ Pykett Lyn. “The Newgate novel and sensation fiction, 1830-1868.” Crime Fiction. Ed. Martin Priestman. Cambridge: Cambridge University, 2003. 19-39. Print
  12. ↑ Adams, James Eli. A History of Victorian Literature. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Web. 4 Jun. 2014.
  13. ↑ See Allingham, Philip V. The Victorian Sensation Novel, 1860-1880 — "preaching to the nerves instead of the judgment." Victorian Web. (last updated) 4 May 2006. Web. 15 May 2009.
  14. ↑ Quoted in H. Bloom ed., The Victorian Novel (2004) p. 113
  15. ↑ I. Ousby ed., The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English (1995) p. 844
  16. ↑ See Hughes, Winifred The Maniac in the Cellar: Sensation Novels of the 1860s. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1980.
  17. ↑ Sarah Waters discusses Fingersmith. BBC Radio 4 Bookclub - 07 March 2004.
  18. ↑ Sensational stories - Sarah Waters on the echoes of 'sensation novels' in Fingersmith. The Guardian - 17 June 2006.
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