WHY VICTORIAN NOVELS ARE SO LONG (AND WHY WE LACK PATIENCE TO READ THEM)

You might think that Victorian novels are so long because of their serialization in weekly or monthly instalments, sold either as part of periodical publications or independently. However, this business practice, introduced by Charles Dickens’s publisher, Chapman, with the serialization of The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (19 instalments between March 1836 and November […]

LEGAL FICTIONS OF THE 19TH CENTURY: THE CASE OF ANNA KARENINA

I must confess my total and utter failure to enjoy Leo Tolstoy’s classic novel Anna Karenina (serialized 1875-1877 and printed in a single volume in 1878). I started with the customary patience I use when reading very long texts (1096 pages in my edition, the excellent 2000 translation by husband-and-wife team Richard Pevear and Larissa […]

FICCIONES JURÍDICAS DEL SIGLO XIX: EL CASO DE ANNA KARENINA

Debo confesar mi total y absoluto fracaso a la hora de disfrutar de la novela clásica de León Tolstoi Anna Karenina (publicada por entregas entre 1875 y 1877 e impresa en un solo volumen en 1878). Empecé con la paciencia habitual que empleo cuando leo textos muy largos (1096 páginas en mi edición, la excelente […]

GOODBYE VICTORIANS, SEE YOU LATER!!

Memory is a funny thing. I have been digging into my CV to prepare this post and what I have found does not quite match my recollections. I was under the impression that I have been teaching Victorian Literature every year since I was hired in 1991, except the year that I spent in Scotland […]

KING SOLOMON’S MINES: “IT IS A QUEER BUSINESS”

Even though I have been teaching H. Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines (1885) for a few years now, it seems I have not written about this novel here. A bit odd. Since I am most likely saying goodbye to it, this is perhaps the right moment to discuss its racist, colonial content, the issue on […]

THE PAPER PROPOSAL: AN OPEN TUTORIAL

I have just marked 70 paper proposals that my second-year Victorian Literature students have submitted and since the feedback I need to offer might be useful beyond my class, I’m offering it here as a sort of open tutorial.             In our English Studies BA we start using secondary sources in the first year, but […]

DRACULA AS AN X-FILE: FROM SCIENCE TO PSEUDOSCIENCE (OR WORSE)

I am teaching Stoker’s novel Dracula as I work on the second edition of my book on The X-Files (Expediente X: en honor a la verdad) which should be published at some point next Autumn, coinciding with the thirtieth anniversary of the series’ launch in 1993. The episodes in The X-Files on vampirism (“3” and […]

DRÁCULA COMO ‘EXPEDIENTE X’: DE LA CIENCIA A LA PSEUDOCIENCIA (O AÚN PEOR)

Estoy enseñando la novela Drácula de Bram Stoker mientras trabajo en la segunda edición de mi libro Expediente X: en honor a la verdad, que debería publicarse en algún momento del próximo otoño, coincidiendo con el trigésimo aniversario del lanzamiento de la serie en 1993. Los episodios de The X-Files sobre vampirismo (“3” y “Bad […]

ON THE USE OF SECONDARY SOURCES IN LITERARY RESEARCH: HOW FAR BACK CAN WE GO?

When I introduce second-year students to the basics of writing academic papers and they submit their first paper proposal (title, 100-abstract, 3-item valid academic bibliography) I warn them to use only post-1995 bibliography (perhaps I should update that to 21st century bibliography?). As I explain, even though in the paper they can use older sources, […]

THE VICTORIAN PATRIARCH AND HIS QUEER FRIEND: JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN

Looking for a Victorian Literature topic suitable for an MA dissertation I came across very enthusiastic reviews in GoodReads for the novel John Halifax, Gentleman (1856) by Dinah Maria Craik (née Mulock, 1826-1887). I’m sorry to say that though I have come across occasional references to this once popular author, I had never heard about […]