Penny dreadfuls and the gothic : investigations of pernicious tales of terror / edited by Nicole C. Dittmer and Sophie Raine.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Dittmer, Nicole C., editor.

Raine, Sophie, editor.

Series:

Gothic Literary Studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English fiction--19th century--History and criticism.

English fiction.

Penny dreadfuls--History and criticism.

Penny dreadfuls.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (274 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cardiff, England : University of Wales Press, [2023]

Summary:

This collection aims to resurrect the long-forgotten penny dreadfuls and revivify their significance in Gothic studies.

Contents:

Cover

Title

Copyright Page

Contents

Acknowledgements

Notes on Contributors

List of Figures and Illustrations

1. Introduction: Dreadful Beginnings

Section I: The Progression of Pennys

or, Adaptations and Legacies of the Dreadful

2. Penny Pinching: Reassessing the Gothic Canon through Nineteenth-century Reprinting

3. 'As long as you are industrious, you will get on very well': Adapting The String of Pearls's Economies of Horror

4. 'Your lot is wretched, old man': Anxieties of Industry, Empire, and England in George Reynolds's Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf

Section II: Victorian Medical Sciences and Penny Fiction

or, Dreadful Discourses of the Gothic

5. 'Embalmed pestilence', 'intoxicating poisons': Rhetoric of Contamination, Contagion, and the Gothic Marginalisation of Penny Dreadfuls by their Contemporary Critics

6. 'A Tale of the Plague': Anti-medical Sentiment and Epidemic Disease in Early Victorian Popular Gothic Fiction

7. 'Mistress of the Broomstick': Biology, Ecosemiotics and Monstrous Women in Wizard's The Wild Witch of the Heath

or The Demon of the Glen

Section III: Mode, Genre, and Style

or, Gothic Storytelling and Ideologies

8. A Highwayman and a Ventriloquist Walk into an Inn … Early Penny Romances and the Politics of Humour in Jack Rann and Valentine Vaux

9. Gothic Ideology and Religious Politics in James Malcolm Rymer's Penny Fiction

10. 'Muddling about among the dead': Found Manuscripts and Metafictional Storytelling in James Malcolm Rymer's Newgate: A Romance

List of Referenced Penny Titles, Organised by Date

Bibliography

Index

Back Cover.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Dittmer, Nicole C. Penny Dreadfuls and the Gothic

ISBN:

1-78683-971-7