Studies in Nineteenth-Century British Literature – serie

Puzzling the Reader establishes the place of charms and riddles in nineteenth-century British literature by exploring the literary and political work riddles performed at cultural thresholds: courtship, initiation, death rituals, moments of greeting, and intercultural relations. Furthermore, Puzzling the Reader investigates the new narrative genre that riddles uncover by transforming traditional narrative techniques. Far from disappearing from view, the oral tradition of the riddles rises into view alongside the literary narratives of William Blake, John Keats, and Charles Dickens. The folk tradition of the riddle is imported into print media and reaches its zenith in the nineteenth century. Through analyses of riddles in weekly literature and satire magazines, parlor game books, and popular collected riddles, such as Queen Victoria’s «Windsor Enigma», this volume examines the literary and political roles riddles play as they migrate into mass print culture. Three crucial texts illustrate this argument: Blake’s «Jerusalem», Keats’s «The Eve of St. Agnes», and Dickens’s Our Mutual Friend. Each is a work of formal experimentation and each typifies the full range of word play in the period. From Blake to Keats to Dickens, nineteenth-century British literature charts a «history» of the literary riddle.

Charlotte Brontë’s Atypical Typology traces Charlotte Brontë’s reinscription of the Bible through her four novels, paying special attention to her use of three strategies: gender reversal; the undermining of traditional notions of God’s providential control of human history; and the recasting of several «otherworldly» locales into settings within this world. Although many scholars acknowledge the importance of Brontë’s use of biblical material, and a few may scrutinize specific passages, the full body of Brontë’s adult work has never been examined in this manner. Indeed, a full understanding of her fiction, as well as her significance within the Victorian era, cannot be reached apart from such an exploration. Teachers and students of the Victorian novel in general as well as readers interested in early feminist perspectives will benefit from learning to read the Bible in the light of Charlotte Brontë’s approach.