Passion and Pathology in Victorian Fiction

Nervous illness, and the study of how body and mind connected, were of intense interest to Victorian medical writers and novelists alike. Offering important new readings of major and less well-known fiction as well as insightful analyses of medical writing, this book extends our understanding of the cultural roles of literature and science.

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In what was once described as 'the century of nerves', a fascination with the mysterious processes governing physical and psychological states was shared by medical and fiction writers alike. This elegant study offers an integrated analysis of how medicine and literature figured the connection between the body and the mind. Alongside detailed examinations of some of the century's most influential neurological and physiological theories, Jane Wood brings readings of both major and relatively neglected fictions - a range which includes work by Charlotte Brontë and George MacDonald, George Eliot and Wilkie Collins, Thomas Hardy and George Gissing. Stepping into an already lively area of interdisciplinary debate, Passion and Pathology is distinguished by its recognition of the intellectual and imaginative force of both discourses: it extends our understanding of the interaction between science and literature in the wider culture of the period.