We associate Sensation Fiction, popularised by Wilkie Collins and Mary Braddon, with the late 1850s until around the 1890s. However, these novels – which focus on secrets, crime and detection – were emerging even before Collins and Braddon published their best sellers – The Woman in White and Lady Audley’s Secret.
For the next Knutsford session Diane will focus on Lady Audley’s Secret, Braddon’s first popular sensation novel which was published in serial form in 1862 in both the Sixpenny Magazine and the London Journal.
Braddon’s work came in between Gaskell’s ‘The Grey Woman’ (1861) and ‘A Dark Night’s Work’ (1863), a story adeptly retitled by Dickens to give it the atmosphere of sensation fiction. The original title (‘A Night’s Work’) does not have the same marketing impact – it is amazing what a difference a word makes! Gaskell, however, was far from pleased, as she was not consulted about the change!
In the period between 1859 and her death, Elizabeth Gaskell also produced a number of short stories, including ‘Lois the Witch’, two major novels Sylvia’s Lovers (1863) and Wives and Daughters (1864-Jan 1866), and a novella, ‘Cousin Phillis’ (1864).
As Diane says, “I have chosen Lady Audley over The Woman in White because it is much more ambiguous in its presentation of gender, class and crime and is much more socially challenging, maybe more akin to Gaskell!”
The sessions will look at the novel in detail as follows:
Session 3 (26 January 2027) -Volume 2, Chapters 4-10.
Session 4 (23 February 2027) – Volume 2, Chapters 11-13 and Volume 3, Chapters 1-3.
Session 5 (30 March 2027) –Volume 3, Chapters 4-end.
Session 6 (27 April 2027) will be a general discussion on the critical reception of the novel.
Where we can, it will be good to draw parallels with Gaskell’s work to see if there are any literary connections between her writing (both her realist and more Gothic works) and Sensation Fiction. We hope to see you either in Knutsford or online. Happy reading!
