Sensation Novel
Victorian Literature
Definition (Working)
How I am defining this genre in this project (not general textbook definition):
-the Victorian sensation novel = one of the first instances of modern literature to address itself primarily to the sympathetic nervous system, where it grounds its characteristic adrenalin effects: accelerated heart rate and respiration, increased blood pressure, the pallor resulting from vasoconstriction, and so on...the sensation text can mobilize the reader's sympathetic nervous system only by giving it something to sympathize with. In order to make us nervous, nervousness must first be represented" (45)
Core Features
Affects / Atmosphere
What this genre feels like (tone, mood, structure):
Key Texts in My Project
Formal Patterns
(Repetition, structure, narration style, time, space, etc.)
-"the narrative oscillates between graphic depictions of abhuman and other monstrosities and a refusal to describe them. The text itself, in other words, is rent by the same irresolvable ambivalence as Kristeva's abjected subject, in the throes of both desire and loathing for the prospect of an abhuman becoming" (46)
Themes This Genre Produces
Theory Connections
Which concepts explain how this genre works?
Comparison Points
How this genre differs from others I’m studying:
Genre Function in My Dissertation
What is this genre doing in my argument?
Critical Questions
What this genre makes me ask:
Evidence / Passages
Quotes or scenes that define the genre:
Open Problems / Tensions
Where this genre breaks down or becomes complicated: