Victorian Sensation: Or the Spectacular, the Shocking and the Scandalous in Nineteenth-Century Britain

By Michael Diamond

Book Overview

From political sleaze and scandal to West End hits and the 'feel-good' factor, Michael Diamond explores the media stories that gripped Victorian society, in an age when newspapers became cheap, nationally distributed and easily accessible to all classes. Fully illustrated, and drawing on a wealth of original material, 'Victorian Sensation' sheds light on the Victorians' fascination with celebrity culture and their obsession with gruesome and explicit reportage of murders and sex scandals. With a vivid cast of characters, ranging from the serial poisoner William Palmer, to Charles Dickens, Jumbo the Elephant, distinguished politicians and even the Queen herself, this passionate analysis of the period reveals how the reporting methods of our own popular media have their origins in the Victorian press, and shows that sensation was as integral a part of society in the nineteenth century as it is today.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1843310767
• ISBN13: 9781843310761
• Release Date: August 2003
• Publisher: Anthem Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.2" x 9.7"

Customer Reviews

Popular culture in VIctorian times

As in our own day, with the press's prolific growth in Victorian times, it turned to the infinite phenomena of popular culture to sustain itself. And as in our own day, this was tied in with the curiosity and voyeurism of the public for sensationalistic stories about crimes, celebrities, politicians, royalty and other public figures, including their scandalous sexual improprieties. Such stories found their way into public entertainment as well, primarily the stage. Diamond does not so much critique the Victorian press and stage, but goes into the cultural milieu for the stories and describes how they were treated in the press and in some cases on stage. In doing so, he brings the perspective of contemporary media studies and cultural studies to his varied subjects. "Dickens' 'Oliver Twist'...would have been called a 'sensational novel', had the term existed then." If the names of the persons in the stories and their dates were changed, one would hardly be able to distinguish them from ones found in today's media. Diamond abundantly evidences that the public and the media it supported in the supposed straight-laced English Victorian culture was not essentially different from today's.