ESH380 - Victorian Sensation Fiction - 2024/25

Audiences could not get enough of the best-selling stories of bigamy, madness, and murder known as the sensation novel. This module will consider the Sensation Mania of the 1860s as a literary, historical, and psychological phenomenon reflecting many of the cultural anxieties of Victorian society. To this end, we will examine how a variety of sensation narratives participated in contemporary debates over sexuality and provided alternate ways of thinking about identity. Texts to be covered include the key novels to establish the genre of sensation fiction.