Salman's Exhibit

When looking at The Moonstone’s publication in serial form in both the United Kingdom and the United States, the wealth of additional material in these magazines — such as advertisements and illustrations for different topics — provides a good opportunity to “read sideways”, as Linda Hughes suggests. However, this exhibit will argue that such a reading can also make us see the genre the reading belongs to (in this case, sensation fiction) in a different light; in particular, the interplay between elements of sensation fiction in a sensation fiction novel itself and elements of sensation fiction around it — in other words, the illustrations, written pieces, and advertisements placed before, within, and after the novel itself in serial form.

In their article on "The Transatlantic Moonstone", Mary Leighton and Lisa Surridge argue that "the illustrations form an intrinsic part of the American serial, affecting its narrative structure, its self-definition as a sensation novel, and its treatment of gender, disability, class, and race" (210). One could also argue that the illustrations around the text form an intrinsic part of the American serial — that the experience of reading a novel as sensation fiction is something influenced by the advertisements and other illustrations which appear in the serial form. In the United States, these illustrations and advertisements formed the extratextual aspect, one which emphasized and reinforced societal norms and boundaries, along with emphasizing early consumerism in creating the reader of sensation fiction.

In the American edition, illustrations within and without the text make sensation fiction more open to new readers — even being a consumer gives one some familiarity with sensation fiction, as consumerism is a part of sensation fiction. However, the British edition is less inclusive. Part of the allure of sensation fiction here is the knowledge that one already has about the work; as a result, the British edition is set up such that only someone who has been familiar with the work will know what they are looking at. 

Works Cited 

Collins, Wilkie. The Moonstone, edited by John Sutherland, Oxford University Press, 2008.

Leighton, Mary Elizabeth, and Lisa Surridge. “The Transatlantic Moonstone: A Study of the Illustrated Serial in Harper’s Weekly.” Victorian Periodicals Review, vol. 42, no. 3, Fall 2009, pp. 207-243. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27760229