Nineteenth-Century Literature in Transition

Offering an in-depth overview and reappraisal of the 1860s in British literature this innovative volume features in-depth analyses from noted scholars at the tops of their fields. Covering characteristic literary genres of the 1860s (including sensation and lyric as well as Golden Age children''s literature) and topics of current and enduring interest in the field from empire and slavery to evolution environmental issues and economics it incorporates drama as well as poetry and fiction and emphasizes the history of publishing and periodicals so important to the period. Chapters are attentive to the global context from Ireland on the stage to Bengali literature to Britain''s muted response to the US Civil War. The Introduction gives an overview that places these individual chapters in the historical context of the 1860s as well as the current scholarly conversation in the field.