Deadly Encounters: Two Victorian Sensations
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
In July 1861 London newspapers excitedly reported two violent crimes, both the stuff of sensational fiction. One involved a retired army major, his beautiful mistress and her illegitimate child, blackmail and murder. In the other, a French nobleman was accused of trying to kill his son in order to claim the young man's inheritance. The press covered both cases with thoroughness and enthusiasm, narrating events in a style worthy of a popular novelist, and including lengthy passages of testimony. Not only did they report rumor as well as what seemed to be fact, they speculated about the credibility of witnesses, assessed character, and decided guilt. The public was enthralled.
Richard D. Altick demonstrates that these two cases, as they were presented in the British press, set the tone for the Victorian "age of sensation." The fascination with crime, passion, and suspense has a long history, but it was in the 1860s that this fascination became the vogue in England. Altick shows that these crimes provided literary prototypes and authenticated extraordinary passion and incident in fiction with the "shock of actuality." While most sensational melodramas and novels were by lesser writers, authors of the stature of Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot, Trollope, Hardy, and Wilkie Collins were also influenced by the spirit of the age and incorporated sensational elements in their work.
Related to Deadly Encounters
Related ebooks
Deadly Encounters: Two Victorian Sensations Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCuriosities of Civilization Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Chicago of Europe: And Other Tales of Foreign Travel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rebirth of the English Comic Strip: A Kaleidoscope, 1847-1870 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCrime and Punishment in Victorian London: A Street Level View of the City's Underworld Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHistory's Daybook: A History of the World in 366 Quotations Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Story of Crass Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Jungle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The King in Yellow (New Edition) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Speculative Fiction of Mark Twain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMr. Punch's History of Modern England (Vol. 1-4): 1841-1914 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Terror - A Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pommy Granita: Progressive comic verse for Boundless Plains and Old Sod Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsG. K. Chesterton, A Critical Study Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA History of American Literature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGreat Expectations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Victorian Age in Literature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMr. Punch's History of Modern England: 1841-1914 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGeneva Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsImaginary Plots and Political Realities in the Plays of William Congreve Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMr. Punch's History of Modern England, Volume 2 (Barnes & Noble Digital Library): 1857-1874 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMr. Punch's History of Modern England, Volume 1 (Barnes & Noble Digital Library): 1841-1857 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOne novel...a lot of Novels: brief history of the novel in English language Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInitial Studies in American Letters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe king in yellow Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Flying Inn Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Short History of World War I Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Now You Know: The Book of Answers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Initial Studies in American Letters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe King In Yellow: “There a painless death awaits him who can no longer bear the sorrows of this life.” Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Literary Criticism For You
The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The 48 Laws of Power: by Robert Greene | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Seduction: by Robert Greene | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/512 Rules For Life: by Jordan Peterson | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Man's Search for Meaning: by Viktor E. Frankl | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Verity: by Colleen Hoover | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One Hundred Years of Solitude: A Novel by Gabriel Garcia Márquez | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Court of Thorns and Roses: A Novel by Sarah J. Maas | Conversation Starters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gone Girl: A Novel by Gillian Flynn | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Letters to a Young Poet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Behold a Pale Horse: by William Cooper | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.by Brené Brown | Conversation Starters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Between the World and Me: by Ta-Nehisi Coates | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Circe: by Madeline Miller | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad Feminist: Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret History: by Donna Tartt | Conversation Starters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gulag Archipelago: The Authorized Abridgement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Moby Dick (Complete Unabridged Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5SUMMARY Of The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in Healthy Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Virtues Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Deadly Encounters
0 ratings0 reviews