Abstract
Mary Elizabeth Braddon wrote an essay on the French Naturalist novelist, Émile Zola, in 1885 for the Fortnightly Review at the request of the editor, T.H.S. Escott. However, Braddon later withdrew from publication. This edition of the essay, with contextual introduction, a note on editorial principles and explanatory notes is the first publication of Braddon’s manuscript which otherwise remains accessible to scholars only in the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas.
Highlights
The relationship between English and French literature in the nineteenth century is a tale of two stories
In England, French literature circulated in cheap serializations in widely-read periodicals; it was consumed in high volume by subscribers of lending libraries; it passed hand-to-hand in private clubs; and it drew large audiences to melodramatic stage adaptations
“Zola and the Naturalistic School,” written just after these two novels, makes legible the extent to which Braddon was influenced by Zola; reading her contemporary fiction alongside the essay makes legible the way she challenged and revised Zola’s naturalism
Summary
The relationship between English and French literature in the nineteenth century is a tale of two stories. In England, French literature circulated in cheap serializations in widely-read periodicals; it was consumed in high volume by subscribers of lending libraries; it passed hand-to-hand in private clubs; and it drew large audiences to melodramatic stage adaptations. These conflicting narratives coexist in large part due to a discrepancy between what Victorians admitted reading and what they read: public lip service to abstinence did not necessarily correspond to private consumption practices
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