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Details
Author
Ward, Ian, 1963-
Title
Sex, crime and literature in Victorian England / Ian Ward.
Description
1 online resource (iv, 154 p.)
Summary
"An exploration of the texts which shaped Victorian attitudes towards the 'condition' of England and the 'question' of its women. It offers a richly contextual commentary on a critical period in the evolution of modern legal and cultural attitudes to the relation of crime, sexuality and the family."--Bloomsbury Publishing.
"The Victorians worried about many things, prominent among their worries being the 'condition' of England and the 'question' of its women. Sex, Crime and Literature in Victorian England revisits these particular anxieties, concentrating more closely upon four 'crimes' which generated special concern amongst contemporaries: adultery, bigamy, infanticide, and prostitution. Each engaged with questions of sexuality and its regulation - as well as the legal, moral, and cultural concerns - which attracted the considerable interest, not just of lawyers and parliamentarians, but also novelists and poets, and perhaps most importantly, those who, in ever-larger numbers, liked to pass their leisure hours reading about sex and crime. Alongside statutes such as the 1857 Matrimonial Causes Act and the 1864 Contagious Diseases Act, the book contemplates those texts which shaped Victorian attitudes towards England's 'condition' and the 'question' of its women - the novels of Dickens, Thackeray, and Eliot; the works of sensationalists, such as Ellen Wood and Mary Braddon; and the poetry of Gabriel and Christina Rossetti. Sex, Crime and Literature in Victorian England is a richly contextual commentary on a critical period in the evolution of modern legal and cultural attitudes to the relation of crime, sexuality, and the family. It is an important study for all those interested in law and literature, legal history, and criminology"--Bloomsbury Publishing.
"The Victorians worried about many things, prominent among their worries being the 'condition' of England and the 'question' of its women. Sex, Crime and Literature in Victorian England revisits these particular anxieties, concentrating more closely upon four 'crimes' which generated special concern amongst contemporaries: adultery, bigamy, infanticide, and prostitution. Each engaged with questions of sexuality and its regulation - as well as the legal, moral, and cultural concerns - which attracted the considerable interest, not just of lawyers and parliamentarians, but also novelists and poets, and perhaps most importantly, those who, in ever-larger numbers, liked to pass their leisure hours reading about sex and crime. Alongside statutes such as the 1857 Matrimonial Causes Act and the 1864 Contagious Diseases Act, the book contemplates those texts which shaped Victorian attitudes towards England's 'condition' and the 'question' of its women - the novels of Dickens, Thackeray, and Eliot; the works of sensationalists, such as Ellen Wood and Mary Braddon; and the poetry of Gabriel and Christina Rossetti. Sex, Crime and Literature in Victorian England is a richly contextual commentary on a critical period in the evolution of modern legal and cultural attitudes to the relation of crime, sexuality, and the family. It is an important study for all those interested in law and literature, legal history, and criminology"--Bloomsbury Publishing.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Formatted Contents Note
Angels in the house
At home with the Dombeys
The disease of reading
Pleasing and teaching
One person in law
Newcome v. Lord Highgate
Carlyle v. Carlyle
Oh reader!
The sensational moment
Fashionable crimes
Mrs. Mellish's marriages
The shame of Miss Braddon
The precious quality of truthfulness
Hardwicke's children
R v. Sorrel
The lost and the saved
Walking the streets
The murder of Nancy Sikes
Contemplating Jenny
Because men made the laws.
At home with the Dombeys
The disease of reading
Pleasing and teaching
One person in law
Newcome v. Lord Highgate
Carlyle v. Carlyle
Oh reader!
The sensational moment
Fashionable crimes
Mrs. Mellish's marriages
The shame of Miss Braddon
The precious quality of truthfulness
Hardwicke's children
R v. Sorrel
The lost and the saved
Walking the streets
The murder of Nancy Sikes
Contemplating Jenny
Because men made the laws.
Available Note
Also issued in print.
Digital File Characteristics
text file
Location
www
Available in Other Form
Original
Linked Resources
Access provided by Berkeley Law Library
Alternate Title
Bloomsbury Collections
Published
Oxford : Hart Pub., 2014.
Language
English
Reproduction
Electronic reproduction. London : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014. Available via World Wide Web. Access limited by licensing agreement.
ISBN
9781474201322 online
9781849462945 hardback
9781782253709 electronic book
9781782253693 PDF
9781849462945 hardback
9781782253709 electronic book
9781782253693 PDF
Record Appears in
Monographs & Serials
Electronic Resources
Electronic Resources