Spoiler Alert: The Sensation Novel and Victorian Criticism

Abstract

The spoiler, a persistent concern of the internet age, has roots in the mid-nineteenth century during the dawn of new media. In the early 1860s, Wilkie Collins and Mary Elizabeth Braddon asked periodical reviewers not to reveal the plots of their novels. These requests elicited responses ranging from begrudging compliance to outright refusal. Not only had critics become accustomed to providing summaries, but they were also inclined to disparage sensation novels. Charles Dickens, whose plots were also revealed by reviewers, adjusted his approach in Our Mutual Friend, his final complete novel, by introducing a mystery that was easily solvable, allowing him both to attract the audience for sensation fiction and to disguise more significant social commentary.