Beyond Sensation

Marlene Tromp is Assistant Professor of English at Denison College. Pamela K. Gilbert is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Florida, and the author of Disease, Desire and the Body in Victorian Women's Popular Novels. Aeron Haynie is Assistant Professor and Chair of the English Department at Western Montana College.

"By allowing us to share in their discoveries, these scholars and their energetic essays introduce us to the dynamic world of Braddon, the author of over eighty other works, and the intersections of such issues as literacy, sensationalism, popularity, feminism, market economy, and history very much alive in her work." — English Literature in Transition"The greatest strength of this book is its important work in filling an unfortunate gap in existing scholarship on Victorian sensation fiction. The essays examine Braddon's work in a variety of useful contexts, including the contemporary reception of her work, her contribution to Victorian serial and periodical work, and her relation to social, historical, and economic trends of the period. There is no other book quite like this one in providing in-depth critical coverage of Braddon alone." — Tamar Heller, author of Dead Secrets: Wilkie Collins and the Female Gothic"The writers cover a wide range of topics that will appeal to any reader interested in Victorian culture and in the history of the novel and the short story. Braddon is an extremely important figure for many reasons, as this volume dramatically shows: she succeeded as a writer, an editor, a playwright, a self-promoter, a bestselling author, and a member of the literary establishment." — Teresa Mangum, author of Married, Middlebrow, and Militant: Sarah Grand and the New Woman Novel

• List of Figures and TablesForewordJames R. Kincaid Acknowledgments IntroductionMarlene Tromp, Pamela K. Gilbert, and Aeron Haynie I. Lady Audley's Secret 1. Enclosure Acts: Framing Women's Bodies in Braddon's Lady Audley's SecretElizabeth Langland 2. Braddon's Commentaries on the Trials and Legal Secrets of Audley CourtGail Turley Houston 3. Rebellious Sepoys and Bigamous Wives: The Indian Mutiny and Marriage Law Reform in Lady Audley's SecretLillian Nayder 4. Marketing Sensation: Lady Audley's Secret and Consumer CultureKatherine Montwieler 5. "An Idle Handle That Was Never Turned, and a Lazy Rope So Rotten": The Decay of the Country Estate in Lady Audley's SecretAeron Haynie II. Aurora Floyd 6. The Espaliered Girl: Pruning the Docile Body in Aurora FloydJeni Curtis 7. The Dangerous Woman: M. E. Braddon's Sensational (En)gendering of Domestic LawMarlene Tromp III. Braddon in the Literary Marketplace 8. Mary Elizabeth Braddon in Australia: Queen of the ColoniesToni Johnson-Woods 9. "Our Author": Braddon in the Provincial WeekliesJennifer Carnell and Graham Law 10. Misalliance: M. E. Braddon's Writing for the StageHeidi J. Holder IV. Genre and Culture 11. Braddon and Victorian Realism: Joshua Haggard's DaughterPamela K. Gilbert 12. Fiction Becomes Her: Representations of Female Character in Mary Braddon's The Doctor's WifeTabitha Sparks 13. "Go and Marry Your Doctor" : Fetishism and "Redundance" at the Fin de Siècle and the Vampires of ''Good Lady Ducayne"Lauren M. E. Goodlad 14. Spectral Politics: M. E. Braddon and the Spirits of Social ReformEve M. Lynch 15. Electra-fying the Female Sleuth: Detecting the Father in Eleanor's Victory and Thou Art the ManHeidi H. Johnson AfterwordLyn Pykett Select Bibliography Contributors Index