The Rise and Fall of the Victorian Three-Volume Novel

1. Auflage 2020
ISBN: 978-3-030-31925-0
Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buch, Englisch, 256 Seiten, Format (B × H): 153 mm x 216 mm, Gewicht: 473 g

Reihe: New Directions in Book History

Utilizing recent developments in book history and digital humanities, this book offers a cultural, economic, and literary history of the Victorian three-volume novel, the prestige format for the British novel during much of the nineteenth century. With the publication of Walter Scott’s popular novels in the 1820s, the three-volume novel became the standard format for new fiction aimed at middle-class audiences through the support of circulating libraries. Following a quantitative analysis examining who wrote and published these novels, the book investigates the success of publisher Richard Bentley in producing three-volume novels, the experiences of the W. H. Smith circulating library in distributing them, the difficulties of authors such as Robert Louis Stevenson and George Moore in writing them, and the resistance of new publishers such as Arrowsmith and Unwin to publishing them. Rather than faltering, the three-volume novel stubbornly endured until its abandonment in the 1890s.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bassett, Troy J.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder England, UK, Irland: Regional & Stadtgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Englische Literatur
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literarische Strömungen & Epochen
• Interdisziplinäres Bibliothekswesen, Informationswissenschaften Buchgeschichte, Bibliotheksgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturgeschichte und Literaturkritik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: The Production of Multi-Volume Fiction, 1837–1898.- Chapter 3: Publishing the Three-Volume Novel: The Experience of Richard Bentley and Son.- Chapter 4: Buying, Renting, and Selling the Multi-Volume Novel: The Economics of W. H. Smith and Son’s Subscription Library.- Chapter 5: De-Monopolizing Literary Space: Alternatives to the Three-Volume Novel.

Über Autor(innen)

Troy J. Bassett is Professor of English at Purdue University Fort Wayne, USA. He has published numerous articles and book chapters on Victorian book history and literature and is the creator of the digital humanities project At the Circulating Library: A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901.