In this Book
- Violent Victorians: Popular entertainment in nineteenth-century London
- Book
- 2016
- Published by: Manchester University Press
summary
By drawing attention to the wide range of gruesome, bloody and confronting amusements patronised by ordinary Londoners this book challenges our understanding of Victorian society and culture. From the turn of the nineteenth century, graphic, yet orderly, ‘re-enactments’ of high level violence flourished in travelling entertainments, penny broadsides, popular theatres, cheap instalment fiction and Sunday newspapers. This book explores the ways in which these entertainments siphoned off much of the actual violence that had hitherto been expressed in all manner of social and political dealings, thus providing a crucial accompaniment to schemes for the reformation of manners and the taming of the streets, while also serving as a social safety valve and a check on the growing cultural hegemony of the middle class.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- List of figures, tables and diagrams
- pp. ix-xii
- Acknowledgements
- pp. xiii-xiv
- 2. About town with Mr Punch
- pp. 39-74
- 4. The ‘Blood-Stained Stage’ revisited
- pp. 124-159
- 5. Selling Sweeney Todd to the masses
- pp. 160-208
- 6. The rise of modern crime reporting
- pp. 209-256
- Epilogue: 1870 – the civilising moment?
- pp. 257-271
- Bibliography
- pp. 272-292
Additional Information
ISBN
9780719095054
Related ISBN(s)
9780719086847, 9780719086854
MARC Record
OCLC
981548316
Pages
320
Launched on MUSE
2017-04-14
Language
English
Open Access
No