Genres, 1700-1900: The Sensation Novel

Sensation! 

Murder, adultery, homosexuality, bigamy, illegitimacy, and secret identities: these are some of the red-hot elements of sensation fiction. But as we’ll discover, the genre is more than just a devilish brew of shocking incidents. Popular among all sorts of readers, from seamstresses to gentleman farmers, these surprisingly modern works tackle heteronormative assumptions about gender and sexuality; interrogate marriage and property laws; expose the law’s biases against women and other marginal groups; and use crime as a lens on contemporary society. In this course, we will study a range of literary works, with an eye toward defining what “sensational” meant in the nineteenth century. Texts include Wilkie Collins’s The Woman in White; Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret; Augustin Daly’s Under the Gaslight; and Florence Marryat’s Miss Chester. Assignments will include one collaborative project; an original response to the course in a summarizing written assessment; and a reading notebook.