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Students researching Victorian short fiction.

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Abstract

Though short fiction has recently begun to appear in anthologies of Victorian literature, the genre is relatively unexplored. Considering the vast number of short stories published during the Victorian age, the genre provides an ideal opportunity to include students in the rediscovery and evaluation of lesser-known texts. In this essay, I outline a research assignment that encourages undergraduate students to enter into current literary discussions of canon formation, aesthetic judgment, and literary theory.

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As a student studying Victorian literature, I rarely if ever encountered the genre of short fiction. Robert Browning's poetry, George Eliot's novels, Thomas Carlyle's ornate and satirical prose--all these were taught with regularity. Yet, the Victorian era produced memorable short fiction: Robert Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series, and even Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." [1] Victorian short fiction had made a lasting impression on the popular imagination, yet has rarely been considered worthy of extended scholarly inquiry.

Though scholars generally agree that the short story "came of age" during the nineteenth century, they usually emphasize American writers and theorists when discussing the development of the genre in the English language. As Harold Orel notes, in Victorian Britain "[n]ovels were the central commodity, and short stories a byproduct, filler material; the latter did not pay well" (2). At least, they did not pay as well as best-selling novels. Yet, it is curious to note that nearly all of the major novelists of the Victorian period also published what would now be considered short fiction. Authors could use stories or tales published in periodicals to increase their audience and extend their reputation. Cash-strapped writers could turn out a short piece for ready money. Those without connections in the publishing world could submit a modest-sized narrative for review with much greater chance of success than sending in a book-length manuscript.

The booming Victorian periodical press published an abundance of short fiction as well as non-fiction essays. This press was an arena in which the serious-minded citizen kept up with public debate, the middle-class parent looked for suitable family reading, and the curious adolescent went for adventure and escape. In short, periodical literature abounded and appealed to audiences of every taste and authors of every ability. Certainly this arena produced its share of "filler material" (Orel 2). Yet there were authors whose literary skills lent themselves to the genre. Elizabeth Gaskell, for example, wrote vivid sketches and narratives. Her story about a mother's devoted search for a daughter who had prostituted herself launched the first issue of Charles Dickens' journal, Household Words. Though Gaskell can tend toward the melodramatic in her novels, her short fiction exhibits a finely-tuned realism that compares well...