Neo-Victorianism: The Victorians in the Twenty-First Century, 1999-2009 [Hardcover]

This field-defining book offers an interpretation of the recent figurations of neo-Victorianism published over the last ten years.?Using a range of critical and cultural viewpoints, it highlights the problematic nature of this 'new' genre and its relationship to re-interpretative critical perspectives on the nineteenth century.List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction Memory, Mourning, Misfortune: Ancestral Houses and (Literary) Inheritences Race and Empire: Postcolonial Neo-Victorians Sex and Science: Bodily and Textual (Re) Inscriptions? Spectrality and S(p)ecularity: Some Reflections in the Glass Doing it With Mirrors, or Tricks of the Trade: Neo-Victorian Metatextual Magic The Way we Adapt Now: or, The Neo-Victorian Theme Park Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

'What is it that our current obsession with the Victorians in fiction, film, TV, and even theme parks, reveals about our anxieties and desires in the twenty-first century? This coherent, detailed and timely study addresses this fascinating question in a lively and engaging way. Heilmann and Llewellyn provide a valuable account of what is currently one of the most interesting areas of literary studies, as well as introducing us to a host of twenty-first century texts which have not as yet been widely discussed. '

- Diana Wallace, Reader in English, University of Glamorgan, UK

'Ann Heilmann and Mark Llewellyn's joint study of the neo-Victorian phenomenon in novel, film, and televisual adaptations, and (more briefly) in commodity culture and heritage parks, affords a veritable smorgasbord of Victoriana for fellow critics and readers of the genre to dip into selectively or consume in its entirety... Neo-Victorianism looks set to become essential reading for fellow researchers as well as any serious student of neo-Victorian studies and will prove an invaluable guide for further critical enquiry into reader response theorisations of this genre.' - Marie-Luil£3