On the occasion of the bicentenary of Edward Bulwer Lytton's birth, seventeen scholars from five countries have contributed essays devoted to many aspects of his career. After the first essay that analyzes the reasons for Bulwer's extraordinary reputation in his own day, twelve of the essays focus primarily upon one or more of the novels, from Falkland (1827) to Kenelm Chillingly (1873). Other novels examined include Bulwer's The Last Days of Pompeii, The Coming Race, The Parisians, and the Caxton trilogy, as well as his Newgate novels. In the volume are also considerations of the seminal treatise England and the English (1833), the incomplete history of Athens (1837), and the achievement of Bulwer Lytton as Colonial Secretary (1858-59). Two essays, one written by a descendant of Bulwer, deal with the overshadowing disaster of his life, the marriage to Rosina Wheeler, herself a novelist whose novels sought to undermine his. Bulwer emerges from this collection of essays as a challengingly complex but coherent figure that merits the respect of contemporary students of the Victorian phenomenon.

The story of a fascinating underground world of winged beings

This volume places Dickens at the centre of a dynamic and expanding Victorian print world and tells the story of his career against a background of options available to him. The collection describes a world animated by outpourings of print materials: books, serials, newspapers, periodicals, libraries, paintings and prints, parodies and plagiarisms, censorship, advertising, as well as theatre and other entertainment, and celebrity. It also shows this period as driven by a growing and more literate population, and undergirded by a general conviction that writing was a crucial component of governance and civic culture. The extensive introduction and selected articles anchor Dickens's attempts to establish better conditions for writers regarding copyright protection, pay, status, recognition, and effectiveness in altering public policy. They speak about Dickens's life as playwright, journalist, novelist, editor, magazine publisher, theatrical producer, actor, lecturer, reader of his own works, supporter of charities for impoverished authors and fallen women, exponent of a morality of Christian compassion and domestic affections sometimes put into question by his own actions, proponent and critic of British nationalism, and champion of education for all. This selection of essays and articles from previously published accounts by internationally renowned scholars is of interest to all students and professionals who are fascinated by the composition, manufacture, finance, formats, pictorializations, sales, advertising and influence of Dickens's writing.

"Erickson analyzes the effects of a changing market on the relative cultural status of literary forms. Topics include the impact of technological changes in printing on English poetry; ideological focus and the market for the essay; and marketing the novel, 1820-1850."--"Book News, Inc., " Portland, Oregon. (Literary Criticism)