Novels Behind Glass

Drawing on recent work in critical theory feminism and social history this book explains the relationship between the novel and the emergent commodity culture of Victorian England using the image of the display window. Novels Behind Glass analyzes the work of Thackeray Eliot Dickens Trollope and Gaskell to demonstrate that the Victorian novel provides us with graphic and enduring images of the power of commodities to affect our beliefs about gender community and individual identity. It will be of interest to students of Victorian literature and history as well as social and cultural theory.