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Chapter 13 - Neo-Victorian Fiction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2025

Bran Nicol
Affiliation:
University of Surrey
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Summary

This chapter focuses on Neo-Victorian fiction as a sub-genre of the historical novel. It examines how British neo-Victorian texts are informed by Anglo-American and European postmodernist theories that challenged the division between history and literature. In this context, it contains discussions of a wide range of novels including Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), John Fowles’ The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1969), A.S. Byatt’s Possession: A Romance (1990), and Sarah Waters’s Victorian trilogy that have now become part of an ever-growing Neo-Victorian canon, while also engaging with more recent manifestations of Neo-Victorianism in TV and film adaptations. It explores how Neo-Victorianism has intersected with British political discourse; how authors’ investment in Britain’s history and Victorian literary culture problematises the Neo-Victorian novel’s position in the academy; the form’s perceived prestige; and its contribution to debates surrounding accuracy and authenticity to argue that neo-Victorianism can be read as a symptom of decadent postmodernity.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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  • Neo-Victorian Fiction
  • Edited by Bran Nicol, University of Surrey
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to British Postmodern Fiction
  • Online publication: 07 August 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009585903.015
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  • Neo-Victorian Fiction
  • Edited by Bran Nicol, University of Surrey
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to British Postmodern Fiction
  • Online publication: 07 August 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009585903.015
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Neo-Victorian Fiction
  • Edited by Bran Nicol, University of Surrey
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to British Postmodern Fiction
  • Online publication: 07 August 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009585903.015
Available formats
×