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But Wait, There's More: Serial Character and Adaptive Reading Practices in the Victorian Period

Haugtvedt, Erica Christine
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9926-6540
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1440247725

Abstract Details

2015, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, English.
This dissertation argues that the serial publication of fictional narrative in the nineteenth century provoked Victorian audiences to consume more media associated with the story they craved, thus materially proliferating the already expansive commercial storyworld. I assert that serial publication of fiction fundamentally affects reception, and that the space between installments opens up the possibility for Victorian readers’ continued involvement with narrative through what I call adaptive reading practices. For this dissertation, adaptive reading practices include reading penny press continuations of Charles Dickens’s The Pickwick Papers (1836-37), attending dramatic adaptations staged during serialization of James Malcolm Rymer’s Sweeney Todd (1846-47), perusing illustrations of Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Eleanor’s Victory (1863), and purchasing merchandise inspired by the media events of George Du Maurier’s Trilby (1894). All of the novels included in this project were originally published in serial, and the adaptations in the same and different media that followed their publication constitute a proliferating form of seriality in which the audience continues their involvement with the storyworld, particularly with fictional characters. I contend that the proliferation of the story over time implies that fictional worlds are proceeding in parallel to the recipient’s own real life, and that serial iteration affords unique opportunities for cultivating and developing fictional character over time. Whereas popular characters in vast serials are often seen as “flat” or stock characters, this dissertation argues that the persistence of characters across textual boundaries presents opportunities for the audience to fill in complex psychological inner lives in the gaps between the character’s serial appearances. The pay-off of this dissertation lies not only in the revelation of the ways that readers can turn into creators (as the penny press adaptors of middle class fiction did), but in the ways in which serial publication in the British press shapes how the audience conceives of fictional worlds.
Sean O'Sullivan (Advisor)
Robyn Warhol (Committee Member)
Amanpal Garcha (Committee Member)
Jill Galvan (Committee Member)
245 p.
American Literature; British and Irish Literature; Literacy; Literature; Mass Media
serialization; fictional character; Victorian novel; penny blood; popular culture; transmedia; reception studies; adaptation; media studies

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Haugtvedt, E. C. (2015). But Wait, There's More: Serial Character and Adaptive Reading Practices in the Victorian Period [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1440247725

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Haugtvedt, Erica. But Wait, There's More: Serial Character and Adaptive Reading Practices in the Victorian Period. 2015. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1440247725.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Haugtvedt, Erica. "But Wait, There's More: Serial Character and Adaptive Reading Practices in the Victorian Period." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1440247725

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1440247725
42
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.