Nineteenth-Century Literature in Transition: The 1890s

Focusing on a highly dynamic decade, this collection demonstrates how newer frameworks and methodologies enrich our sense of the 1890s.

Dustin Friedman (Edited by), Kristin Mahoney (Edited by)

9781316513255, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 7 September 2023

371 pages
23.5 x 15.7 x 2 cm, 0.73 kg

'Since the publication of Nineteenth-Century Literature in Transition: The 1890s, 'our dizzying and disorienting present' has become more intense, in many ways intolerably so, and it is somewhat reassuring to see reflections of our current dark moments in the closing decade of the nineteenth century (6). It is a reminder of recurring patterns of history and human preoccupations, but perhaps more than that (for those kind of reminders are so worn and ineffectual that they barely resonate), it reminds us that the 1890s promise to be an exciting catalytic period of study for decades, perhaps even centuries, to come.' Jane Desmarais, Victorian Studies Journal

The 1890s were once seen as marginal within the larger field of Victorian studies, which tended to privilege the realist novel and the authors of the mid-century. In recent decades, the fin de siècle has come to be viewed as one of the most dynamic decades of the Victorian era. Viewed by writers and artists of the period as a moment of opportunity, transition, and urgency, the 1890s are pivotal for understanding the parameters of the field of Victorian studies itself. This volume makes a case for why the decade continues to be an area of perennial fascination, focusing on transnational connections, gender and sexuality, ecological concerns, technological innovations, and other current critical trends. This collection both calls attention to the diverse range of literature and art being produced during this period and foregrounds the relevance of the Victorian era's final years to issues and crises that face us today.

Introduction: The 1890s: Decade of a Thousand Movements Dustin Friedman and Kristin Mahoney
1. Race and Empire in the 1890s Zarena Aslami
2. Island Dandies, Transpacific Decadence, and the Politics of Style Lindsay Wilhelm
3. The 1890s and East Asia: Towards a Critical Cosmopolitanism Stefano Evangelista
4. Indulekha
or The Many Lives of Realism at the Fin De Siècle Sukanya Banerjee
5. Reading World Religions in the 1890s Sebastian Lecourt
6. Night Lights: The 1890s Nocturne Emily Harrington
7. The Green 1890s: World Ecology in Women's Poetry Ana Parejo Vadillo
8. 'Only Nature is a Thing Unreal': The Anthropocene 1890s Elizabeth Carolyn Miller
9. Weird Ecologies and the Limits of Environmentalism Dennis Denisoff
10. Queer Theories of the 1890s Simon Joyce
11. Eugenics and Degeneration in Socialist-Feminist Novels of the Mid-1890s Diana Maltz
12. The Conservative and Patriotic 1890s Alex Murray
13. Decadence and the Antitheatrical Prejudice Adam Alston
14. Religion and Science in the 1890s Anne Stiles
15. Little Magazines and/in Media History Lorraine Janzen Kooistra
16. Fin-de-Siècle Visuality (and Textuality) and the Digital Sphere Rebecca N. Mitchell.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 [DSBF]