Neo-Victorian shapeshifting : an exploration of the evolution of the neo-Victorian novel

Abstract

“A spectre is haunting the world of Victorian Studies: the spectre of neo-Victorianism” - Rohan McWilliam in ‘Victorian Sensations, Neo-Victorian Romances: Response’. Few periods from history have sparked the imagination as has the Victorian era. Within popular culture, Victoriana has been kept alive through on-screen adaptations of Victorian literary classics, fictional re-writings of Victorian novels and online games, whilst the world of academia explores aspects of the Victorian through the field of Victorian studies and, more recently, neo-Victorian studies. The neo-Victorian novel refers to a genre of historical fiction that re-imagines aspects of the Victorian world from present-day perspectives. Alongside a surge of neo-Victorian fiction, criticism pertaining to this genre has grown exponentially in the past decades. In fact, although neo-Victorianism is still a relatively new field of literary theory, much has already been said about the haunting presence of the past and the strong pull of the Victorian era upon twenty-first century readers. Yet, scholarship has granted little attention to the gradual changes, with regards to approach and technique, in neo-Victorian novels along the years. In order to examine how the representation of neo-Victorianism has shapeshifted since the first official neo-Victorian novel was published, this study makes reference to a number of neo-Victorian novels spanning the past four decades, namely Jean Rhys’s The Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), John Fowles’s The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969), A.S Byatt’s Possession: A Novel (1990), Sarah Waters’s Fingersmith (2002) and Michel Faber’s The Crimson Petal and The White (2002). Drawing on relevant literary criticism, such as postmodern historiography, Julia Kristeva’s theory of intertextuality and Linda Hutcheon’s concept of ‘historiographic metafiction’, this thesis first establishes the foundations of the neo-Victorian novel and its early postmodernist ties through a close study of John Fowles’s The French Lieutenant's Woman. This initiates an exploration into the way neo-Victorian novels are intertextually haunted by Victorian texts and investigates whether late twentieth-century neo-Victorian novels have remained faithful to postmodernist poetics. To back up this line of inquiry, the second chapter incorporates elements of trauma theory and intertextuality in order to closely analyse Rhys and Byatt’s novels. Finally, this study considers how twenty-first century neo-Victorian novelists have been influenced by the changes in popular culture. To this end, the final chapter uses elements of trauma theory and contemporary culture to examine Sarah Waters’s Fingersmith and Michel Faber’s The Crimson Petal and The White. Thus, through this line of research, this thesis charts the different approaches employed by neo-Victorian novelists along the years and explores how the purpose of neo-Victorian novels extends beyond giving homage to Victorian culture, but posits an opportunity to reflect upon prevalent present-day issues.