G. W. M. Reynolds and His Fiction - Stephen Knight

G. W. M. Reynolds and His Fiction

The Man Who Outsold Dickens

(Autor)

Buch | Hardcover
206 Seiten
2018
Routledge (Verlag)
978-1-138-57984-2 (ISBN)
168,35 inkl. MwSt
George Reynolds is arguably the most prolific of all nineteenth-century English novelists, yet today remains almost unknown in the canon of English Literature. The Man Who Outsold Dickens reestablishes Reynolds as a major figure of nineteenth-century fiction and an author of European range.
George Reynolds is arguably the most prolific of all nineteenth-century English novelists, reaching an enormous audience through his thirty-six novels. Often selling in very large numbers in weekly one-penny installments, his works were known as by the most popular English novelist ever. Yet today, he remains almost unknown in the canon of English Literature.

A serious radical, strongly pro-woman, and a leading Chartist seeking the vote for all men, Reynolds’ vigorous heroines differ notably from the Victorian novelists’ timid norm. He was strongly pro-Jewish and pro-Gypsy, very interested in French and Italian society, but wrote for ordinary English working people. Dickens thought him a dangerous leftist: for all these reasons, he was excluded from the elite literary world.

G. W. M. Reynolds: The Man Who Outsold Dickens reestablishes Reynolds as a major figure of mid-nineteenth-century fiction and an author of European range and status. This book examines his massive popularity and notable concern with the problems of ordinary people, especially women, in the complex and often dangerous new world of the modern city. With the support of his wife Susannah, Reynolds’ enormous influence would also make a contribution to the cause of mass political education through his role in the development of popular fiction and journalism. This book is a major innovation in the field of Victorian literary studies, with relevance to popular cultural studies, the politics of literature, and publishing history, presenting properly a much overlooked major English novelist.

Stephen Knight (M.A., Oxford, Ph.D. Sydney, both in English Literature) taught at universities in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Leicester, and Cardiff, and is an honorary professor at Melbourne. He has written many articles and reviews, and this is his twentieth book: they include several on crime fiction, the prize-winning Robin Hood: A Mythic Biography (2003) and recently The Politics of Myth (2015); The Mysteries of the Cities (2012) has a chapter on Reynolds’ The Mysteries of London.

Preface

Introduction

1. Reynolds and His Novels

2. Reynold’s Reception

3. Approaching Reynolds’ Fiction

Chapter 1 Towards London and the Mysteries








First Moves in Fiction



Pickwick Abroad



Alfred de Rosann



Grace Darling



Robert Macaire



The Steam-Packet



The Drunkard’s Tale



Master Timothy’s Bookcase



Chapter 2 The Mysteries of London

Section 1: Volumes 1-2: The Markhams, Self-Managing Women, The Resurrection Man, and Other Criminals








Introduction



Major Male Figures



Major Female Figures



Minor Characters, Noble, Troubled, and Vicious



Criminals Great and Small



Socio-Political Commentary



Section 2 A: Volumes 3-4: Chapters 1-119, 1826-7: Aristocratic Families, Insurgent Women, Contemporary Politics

2.A.1 Aristocratic Interactions

2.A.2 The Master Criminal

2.A.3 Comic Non-Gentry

2.A.4 Corrupt Non-Gentry, and Some Decent Relatives

2.A.5 Minor Figures, Respectable and Criminal

Section 2 B: Volume 4: Chapters 120-209, 1846-7: Modern Gentry, Bourgeoisie, Seductresses, and Criminals.

2.B.1 The Gentry in the Present

2.B 2 Modern Seductresses

2.B.3 New Aristocratic Dramas

2.B.4 Modern Criminals

2.B.5 Satirical and Political Commentary

Section 3 The Mysteries of London, Series 3 and 4

3.1 Series 3, Volume 5: Thomas Miller and the Ordinary People of London

3.2 Series 4, volume 6: Edward Blanchard and Aristocratic Sentimentality

Chapter 3 Mysteries Historicized: The Days of Hogarth and The Mysteries of the Court of London

Section 1: The Parricide: Revisiting the Past in Fiction

Section 2: The Days of Hogarth: Revisiting Past London

2.1 Mystery and History

2.2 Hogarth’s Four Narrative Sequences

2.3 Jem Ruffles the Hero

2.4 Other New Characters

2.5 Century-Old London

2.6 After Reynolds and Hogarth

Section 3: The Mysteries of the Court of London, volumes 1-2: The Prince Regent and Other Villains

3.1 Royalty

3.2 Aristocracy

3.3 Other Social Figures

3.4 Criminals

3.5 Social and Political Comment

Section 4 The Mysteries of the Court of London, volumes 3-4: Venetia Trelawney Versus the Prince and Other Males

4.1 Royalty

4.2 Aristocratic Women

4.3 Aristocratic Men

4.4 Other Characters

4.5 Social and Urban Comment

Section 5 The Mysteries of the Court of London, volumes 5-6: Aristocrats: Female Villainy and Secondary Males

5.1 Introduction

5.2 The House of Saxondale

5.3 The House of Eagledean

5.4 Other Characters

5.5 Final Events

5.6 Satire and Social Reference

Section 6 The Mysteries of the Court of London, volumes 7-8: Aristocrats: Disputed Inheritance and Young Love

6.1 The Duke and His Problems

6.2 Other Characters in the Main Plot

6.3 Other Plot Strands

6.4 The Murder Mystery Resolved

6.5 Social and Political Commentary

Chapter 4 Lower-Class Heroines and Heroes of the 1850s






The Seamstress: A Domestic Tale: Distress and Tragedy



Mary Price, or The Memoirs of a Servant-Maid: Her Many Connections



Joseph Wilmot, or The Memoirs of a Man-Servant: Masculine Service, Travel, and Inheritance



Rosa Lambert, or The Memoirs of an Unfortunate Woman: Independence and Danger



Ellen Percy, or The Memoirs of an Actress: Commitment -- Personal, Professional, and Amicable



The Young Duchess, or The Memoirs of a Woman of Quality: Beyond the World of Ellen Percy



The Soldier’s Wife: The Working Class in Uniform



May Middleton, or The History of a Fortune: Conventional Approaches



Agnes, or Beauty and Pleasure: Women of All Kinds

Chapter 5 Fantasy History, Historical Fiction, International Narratives

Section 1 Fantasy History








Faust, A Romance of the Secret Tribunals



1.2 Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf, A Romance

1.3 The Coral Island, or The Hereditary Curse

1.4 The Necromancer, A Romance

Section 2 Historical Fiction

2.1 Pope Joan, or The Female Pontiff

2.2 Kenneth, A Romance of the Highlands

2.3 The Massacre of Glencoe, A Historical Tale

2.4 The Rye House Plot, or Ruth the Conspirator’s Daughter

2.5 Margaret, or The Discarded Queen

2.6 Canonbury House, or The Queen’s Prophecy

2.7 Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots

Section 3 International Narratives

3.1 The Bronze Statue, or The Virgin’s Kiss

3.2 Omar, A Tale of the Crimean War

3.3 The Loves of the Harem, A Romance of Constantinople

3.4 Leila, or The Star of Mingrelia

3.5 The Empress Eugénie’s Boudoir

3.6 Conclusion

Erscheinungsdatum
Reihe/Serie Routledge Studies in Nineteenth Century Literature
Verlagsort London
Sprache englisch
Maße 152 x 229 mm
Gewicht 453 g
Themenwelt Literatur Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
Geisteswissenschaften Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft Anglistik / Amerikanistik
Geisteswissenschaften Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft Literaturgeschichte
Geisteswissenschaften Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft
ISBN-10 1-138-57984-X / 113857984X
ISBN-13 978-1-138-57984-2 / 9781138579842
Zustand Neuware
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