Degree Name
MA (Master of Arts)
Program
English
Date of Award
5-2006
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
Karen L. Cajka
Committee Members
Judith B. Slagle, William Styron Harris Jr.
Abstract
Why do we read what we read? Janice Radway examines works that were not popular in an author's time period, but now are affecting the construction of the canon. In her own words, Radway seeks to "establish [popular literature] as something other than a watered-down version of a more authentic high culture [and] to present the middlebrow positively as a culture with its own particular substance and intellectual coherence" (208). Mary Elizabeth Braddon's novels were considered "middlebrow" and were very popular in Victorian England. Along with this facet, her heroines were considered controversial because they were not portrayed as what would be labeled a "proper female" in Victorian society. The popularity of her novels, her heroines, along with facets of her personal life, keep her from being recognized as one of the foremost authors in the Victorian period.
Document Type
Thesis - unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Baker, Lori Elizabeth, "Double the Novels, Half the Recognition: Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Contribution to the Evolution of the Victorian Novel." (2006). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 2191. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2191
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.