Category Archives: Victoriana

Anthony Trollope, “Phineas Redux”

Posted on November 13, 2013 by carolwallace

Is Phineas Redux the weakest of Anthony Trollope’s Palliser novels? Or am I not fair to it? I probably wasn’t fair on this reading, letting it linger on my bedside table and reading only before going to sleep. Did Phineas … Continue reading →

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Edith Wharton, “Old New York”

Posted on January 20, 2012 by carolwallace

When I was talking to Pat Ryan of the New York Times about this wonderful piece in that newspaper (commemorating Mrs. Wharton’s 150th birthday on January 24), I remembered Wharton’s marvelous series of novellas called Old New York, and realized I … Continue reading →

Posted in classic, literary fiction, Victoriana | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Sarah Waters, “Fingersmith”

Posted on February 22, 2011 by carolwallace

“‘If you might only hear yourself! Terrible plots? Laughing villains? Stolen fortunes and girls made out to be mad? The stuff of lurid fiction! We have a name for your disease. We call it a hyper-aesthetic one. You have been … Continue reading →

Posted in contemporary fiction, historical fiction, Victoriana | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

George Gissing, “The Odd Women”

Posted on May 3, 2010 by carolwallace

Odd as in, not one of a pair. As in, wouldn’t fit on Noah’s Ark. As in, unmarried. George Gissing was a late-nineteenth century English novelist who had come from the lower middle class and knew better than most of … Continue reading →

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Charles Dickens, “Little Dorrit” 3

Posted on April 22, 2009 by carolwallace

It did not occur to me until page 751 that one of Dickens’ subjects in Little Dorrit is the very creation of narrative.  Of course in a book this big the author’s got a lot of preoccupations and I wonder … Continue reading →

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Charles Dickens, “Little Dorrit,” 2

Posted on April 20, 2009 by carolwallace

This book is a massive read: what my children might call “a beast” of a book.  But that’s one of its pleasures, I find. Lurking at the back of my mind, day in and day out, is this alternate universe, … Continue reading →

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Charles Dickens, “Little Dorrit”

Posted on April 11, 2009 by carolwallace

Man, I hate crying on the subway. I was just sniffling gently and seeping tears, but you feel so exposed. And slightly embarrassed. Oscar Wilde famously wrote that “One would have to have a heart of stone to read the … Continue reading →

Posted in anglophilia, classic, Victoriana | 1 Comment

Kate Summerscale, “The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher”

Posted on December 31, 2008 by carolwallace

Here’s the subtitle, too: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective. Now here’s the final wonderful paragraph: “Perhaps this is the purpose of detective investigations, real and fictional — to transform sensation, horror and grief into … Continue reading →

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