Serialized Fiction in the Victorian Era
"This is indeed the age of publication. A printing mania sure
hath seized the nation"
Punchinello Jan. 17,
1846
IntroductionDuring the Victorian Era (1837-1901), in England, a
publishing trend rose to popularity in the world of the novel called serialized
fiction. The greatest novelists of the time, including Charles Dickens, George
Eliot, William Thackeray and Joseph Conrad, chose to publish their newest works
of fiction in installments. These installments ran in popular magazines and
newspapers or were produced in cheaply bound sections over a period of many
months. Because this format was more affordable, people outside of the upper
class could purchase books for the first time. The publishing phenomenon sparked
a growth not only in the number of people desiring to read, but also in literacy
rates.
ScopeThis topic can be examined from many directions - a
publishing fad, a sociological and psychological evaluation of the people and
the time, as well as how this trend affected the shape of the literary works
themselves. This pathfinder will outline the best available resources on the
subject, suitable for undergraduate or graduate level research projects at the
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. It is meant only to introduce the
user to the various branches of the topic. Further research is required for more
specific information. Most of the resources, which include reference materials
such as guides and subject encyclopedias, frequently mentioned books, indexes,
abstracts, journals and websites, are available in the UNC-Chapel Hill and North
Carolina State University libraries.
Subject HeadingsUse these subject headings when performing searches in
databases and catalogs to produce the most relevant results.
- Books and reading - Great
Britain - History - 19th century
- English literature - 19th
Century
- Serialized fiction - Great
Britain
- Serial publication of books
- History - 19th century
- Authors and publishers -
Great Britain - History - 19th century
- Authors and readers - Great
Britain - History - 19th century
- Publishers and publishing -
Great Britain - History - 19th century
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Browsing Areas (Library of Congress Classification)Explore these areas in both reference and general
collections for related materials on this topic.
- DA550-565 - History - Great
Britain - Victorian Era (1837-1901)
- PR400-1000 - English
Literature
- Z278-549 - Bookselling and
Publishing
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Key to Locations
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Important Articles
- Crawford, Shawn.
"No Time to Be Idle: The Serial Novel and Popular
Imagination." World and I 13/11 (Nov.
1998): 323-332. [Available electronically through Expanded Academic ASAP
database]
- Patten, Robert L.
"Pickwick Papers and the Development of
Serial Fiction." Rice University Studies
61(1) (Winter 1975): 51-74. [Davis, AS36 .W65 vol. 61, no. 1]
Books and Frequently Mentioned TextsThese books offer both introductory and detailed information
on the authors, readers, and publishers of serialized fiction. They also
elaborate on the different forms of serialized fiction, and how it changed
throughout the time period.
- Atlick, Richard D. The English Common Reader: A Social History of
the Mass Reading Public, 1800-1900. Chicago : University of
Chicago Press, 1957. [SILS, Z1003 .A57]
- Dooley, Allan C. Author and Printer in Victorian
England . Charlottesville : University Press of Virginia, 1992.
[Davis, PR468 .T48 D66 1992]
- Erickson, Lee . The Economy of Literary Form: English Literature
and the Industrialization of Publishing, 1800-1850. Baltimore :
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. [Davis, PR451 .E75 1996]
- Feltes, N. N. Modes of Production of Victorian
Novels. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1986. [Davis, Z326
.F44 1986]
- Hughes, Linda K. and
Michael Lund. The Victorian
Serial. Charlottesville : University Press of Virginia, 1991.
[Davis, PR468 .P37 H84 1991]
- Jordan, John O. and Robert L Patten, eds. Literature in the Marketplace:
Nineteenth Century British Publishing and Reading Practices.
Cambridge; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1995. [Davis, Z325 .L58
1995]
- Law, Graham .Serializing Fiction in the Victorian
Press. Houndsmill; New York : Palgrave, 2000. [NC State, PR878
.P78 L39 2000]
- Sutherland, John . Victorian Fiction: Writers, Publishers,
Readers. New York : St. Martin's Press, 1995. [Davis, PR878 .P78
S89 1995]
- Sutherland, John.
Victorian Novelists and Publishers. Chicago,
University of Chicago Press, 1976. [Davis, PR878 .P78 S9 1976]
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Bibliographies
- Beene, Lynn . Guide to British Prose Fiction Explication: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. New York : G.K. Hall, 1997. [ Davis REF,
PR861 .B38 1997]
EncyclopediasThe encyclopedias mentioned here are useful for
understanding the Victorian Age as a whole, both in England and the rest of the
world.
- The Encyclopedia of the Victorian World: A Reader's Companion to the People, Places, Events, and Everyday Life of the Victorian Era. Edited by Melinda Corey and George Ochoa. New York : Henry Holt
& Co., 1996. [Davis REF, DA550 .E53 1996]
- Victorian Britain: An Encyclopedia. Edited by
Sally Mitchell and others. New York : Garland Publishing, 1988. [Davis REF,
DA550 .V53 1988]
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HandbooksThe handbooks mentioned here act as guides to the entire
body of literature produced during the Victorian era. They also offer factual
information on the key persons involved with the production of
literature.
- St. James Reference Guide to English
Literature. Edited by James Vinson and others. Chicago : St.
James Press, 1985. [Davis REF, PR106 .S7 1985] v.3 - The Romantic and
Victorian Periods: excluding the novel v.4 - The Novel to 1900
- Sutherland, John. The Stanford Companion to Victorian
Fiction. Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, 1989.
[Davis REF, Davis, PR871 .S87 1989]
- Vann, J. Don. Victorian Novels in
Serial. New York : Modern
Language Association of America, 1985. [Davis REF, Z2014.F4 V36 1985]
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Indexes and AbstractsThe abstracts and indexes mentioned here will produce the
best results in searching for more specific studies on and examinations of
serialized fiction during the 19th century.
- Expanded
Academic ASAP via Infotrac Searchbank
http://eresources.lib.unc.edu/eid/description.cfm?EIDID=181
- Historical Abstracts
http://eresources.lib.unc.edu/eid/description.cfm?EIDID=76
- MLA International Bibliography via Silverplatter
http://eresources.lib.unc.edu/eid/description.cfm?EIDID=173
- Poole's Plus: The Digital Index for the Nineteenth Century
http://eresources.lib.unc.edu/eid/description.cfm?EIDID=248
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JournalsThe journals listed here frequently publish articles and
reviews of books about serialized fiction and literature of the Victorian Era.
They are indexed in the aforementioned databases.
- Nineteenth-Century Literature
Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press
Holdings from v. 41(1986/87) -
[Continues Nineteenth-Century Fiction (1949-1986)]
Full text available through JSTOR (1986-1994)
http://eresources.lib.unc.edu/ejournal/EJdescription.cfm?EJID=10169
[Davis, PR873 .T76]
- Victorian Newsletter
Urbana, Ill.: G.N. Ray
Holdings from v. 1(1952) -
[Davis, PR1 .V48]
- Victorian Periodicals Review
Toronto: Research Society for Victorian Periodicals
Holdings from v. 12(1979) -
[Davis, PN5124.P4 V5]
- Victorian Studies
Bloomington: Indiana University
Holdings from v. 1(1957) -
Full text available via Project Muse (v.42:no. 2 -)
http://eresources.lib.unc.edu/ejournal/EJdescription.cfm?EJID=12127
[Davis, PR1 .V5]
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Web ResourcesThe following websites are free, and accessible anywhere.
They focus on the Victorian Era as a whole, so searching is required for this
topic, but most of them are searchable. The majority of the information
available is scholarly, there are also images and useful chronologies.
- Victorian Websites
http://lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/Victorian.html
- The Victorian Web
http://landow.stg.brown.edu/victorian/victov.html
- Victoria Research Web
http://www.indiana.edu/~victoria/
- New Books in 19th Century British Studies
http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/english/19c/newbooks.html
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