R iddell, C harlotte

Abstract

Fluctuating literary tastes create irony regarding the works of Charlotte Riddell (1832–1906). While she lived, Riddell's novels, mainly nonsupernatural fiction about urban commercial life, received the greatest attention. Since the late twentieth century her supernatural fiction (short stories and novellas) has attracted the most attention, almost as if the novels were not worth notice. Riddell numbers among several Victorian women who published Gothic tales (see ghost stories ). She obviously turned to and published such writing, from the late 1860s on through several decades, for financial remuneration. Her ghostly fiction surpasses the huge numbers of weird tales aimed at thrilling readers eager for customary Christmas‐story fare, but insufficiently artistic for lasting appeal. Research concerning Riddell is sometimes baffling because initially she used pseudonyms: R. V. M. Sparling, F. G. Trafford, Rainey Hawthorne. Later, she could not remember precisely what she had published or where a given item may have first appeared.