Browse Exhibits (2 total)
Natasha's Exhibit
Linda Hughes has talked about the importance of “sideways reading” (1-2) and when reading Victorian texts, one should look at the surrounding texts, articles, pictures, advertisements, and so on in its original form. By doing this, the text’s meaning could change as there is cultural and historical context, but it also creates a conversation with the two or more different texts that are side-by-side.
Due to interpreting the texts in this way, the text analysis then relies on Roland Barthes’ Death of the Author theory as the texts around The Moonstone might be interpreted differently than how the author initially wrote it. As The Moonstone was written, the author’s intended interpretations of Miss. Clack could have been different, but due to the surrounding texts, the texts show her in a different light and might even paint her in a more vain and naïve character than written alone.
Due to the Death of the Author theory, the author’s intentions of the character is less relevant, while the relevance remains in the interpretation of the readers by also using the texts surrounding the first chapter narrated by Miss Clack. The texts around The Moonstone create dimension to the characters in the story, more so than the story itself provides. Miss. Clack’s character is critiqued and added to because of the surrounding illustrations, articles, and stories. The texts around the chapter create conversation around Miss Clack's Christianity and add to the comparison between her and Mr. Godfrey.
Barthes, Roland. “Death of the Author.” The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, edited by Vincent B. Leitch et al., W.W. Norton, 2010, pp 1322-1326.
Hughes, Linda K. "SIDEWAYS!: Navigating the Material(ity) of Print Culture." Victorian Periodicals Review, vol. 47 no. 1, 2014, p. 1-30. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/vpr.2014.0011.
Sensation Fiction and Characterization in the Nineteenth Installment of The Moonstone
The simultaneous transatlantic publication of Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone, in All the Year Round: A Weekly Journal and Harper’s Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, begs the question: what difference does context make to the meaning of the text? At the forefront of this question is the novel’s status as sensation fiction. According to Elizabeth Anderman, sensation novels were often criticized for being too visual (27). Anderman goes on to quote H.L. Mansel’s 1863 article which identifies that the greatest downfall of the genre is that the novels were ornamental and colorful like a sign promising entertainment within (27). The British publication of The Moonstone in All the Year Round diverts from this idea with its layout, lack of illustration, and the article that follows, entitled “Lighting by Oxygen”. By looking at the interplay between these elements and the text, All the Year Round constructs a narrative that underplays the notion of sensationalism and focuses attention on the emotional capabilities of the text itself. The American publication in Harper’s Weekly accomplishes the opposite effect and emphasizes its sensationalism most noticeably by the illustration that is placed in the center of the page and also by the accompanying Hungarian folk tale, “The Devil Outwitted”. All of these elements seem to amplify the emotion and excitement expected of sensation novels and indicates the different values in the American journal. This exhibit will look at four images taken from either publication to display how the context’s acceptance or rejection of the form directly impacts the audience’s reception of the characters, specifically Miss Clack, appearing in the nineteenth installment of The Moonstone.
Works Cited
All the Year Round: A Weekly Journal. Edited by Charles Dickens, vol. 19, Chapman & Hall, 1868, London, pp. 505-511.
Anderman, Elizabeth. “Serialization, Illustration, and the Art of Sensation.” Victorian Periodicals Review, vol. 52, no.1, 2019, pp. 27-56. Project Muse, doi:https://doi.org/10.1353/vpr.2019.0001. Accessed 01 December 2019.
Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization. Harper & Brothers, 1868, New York, pp. 293-294.