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Victorian literature is rife with scenes of madness, with mental disorder functioning as everything from a simple plot device to a commentary on the foundations of Victorian society. But while madness in Victorian fiction has been much studied, most scholarship has focused on the portrayal of madness in women; male mental disorder in the period has suffered comparative neglect. Valerie Pedlar corrects this imbalance in The Most Dreadful Visitation.This extraordinary study explores a wide range of Victorian writings to consider the relationship between the portrayal of mental illness in literary works and the portrayal of similar disorders in the writings of doctors and psychologists. Pedlar presents in-depth studies of Dickens's Barnaby Rudge, Tennyson's Maud, Wilkie Collins's Basil, and Trollope's He Knew He Was Right, considering each work in the context of Victorian understandings—and fears—of mental degeneracy. (20080301)
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‘ THE MOST DREADFUL VISITATION’: MALE MADNESS IN VICTORIAN FICTION
LIVERPOOL ENGLISH TEXTS AND STUDIES,
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‘ THE MOST DREADFUL VISITATION’: MALE MADNESS IN VICTORIAN FICTION
VALERIE PEDL AR
LIVERPOOL UNIVERSIT Y PRESS
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First published by Liverpool University Press Cambridge Street Liverpool L ZU Copyright © Valerie Pedlar The right of Valerie Pedlar to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act . All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication data A British Library CIP record is available ISBN --- cased ISBN- ---- cased
Typseset in Garamond by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Manchester Printed and bound in the European Union by Biddles Ltd, King’s Lynn, Norfolk
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To the memory of my parents, Geoffrey and Marjorie Robinson
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Contents
Acknowledgements Introduction
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Insurrection and Imagination: Idiocy and Barnaby Rudge
Thwarted Lovers: Basil and Maud
Wrongful Confinement, Sensationalism and Hard Cash
Madness and Marriage
The Zoophagus Maniac: Madness and Degeneracy in Dracula
Conclusion
Bibliography Index
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Acknowledgements
During the many years it has taken me to produce this book, which started life as a PhD thesis at the University of Liverpool, I have received help and encouragement from many friends and colleagues. I owe thanks to the anonymous reader for Liverpo