Noticing the Dead: The Biographical Sketch in Victorian Periodicals

In the 1840s, biographical sketches of dead journalists and editors constituted a largely new genre of writing in the periodical press. This essay compares and contrasts the biographical sketch to other genres and then traces its development at mid-century. I argue that the genre's popularity at mid-century might be explained by examining how it functioned in relation to the formation of periodical writing as a legitimate field. I conclude by suggesting some further lines of enquiry based on changes in biographical sketches at the end of the century, when the genre had been successfully established and a process of revaluation was underway.