Victorian Demons

Victorian Demons provides the first extensive exploration of largely middle-class masculinities in crisis at the fin de siècle. It analyzes how ostensibly controlling models of masculinity became demonized in a variety of literary and medical contexts, revealing the period to be much more ideologically complex than has hitherto been understood. Andrew Smith demonstrates how a Gothic language of monstrosity, drawn from narratives such as The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Dracula, increasingly influenced a range of medical and cultural contexts, destabilizing these apparently dominant masculine scripts. He provides a concise analysis of a range of examples relating to masculinity drawn from literary, medical, legal and sociological contexts, including Joseph Merrick (The Elephant Man), the Whitechapel murders of 1888, Sherlock Holmes's London, the writings and trials of Oscar Wilde, theories of degeneration and medical textbooks on syphilis.

Academics and graduate students in literature and gender studies will find much of value in this study of the negative associations with masculinity evidenced by a diverse group of 19th-century sources—medical textbooks about syphilis, London as described in Sherlock Holmes' stories, and the life and writings of Oscar Wilde among them. Though the presentation is laden with theory, Smith (English, U. of Glamorgan, UK) is gifted with an engaging writing style, quoting from the original sources and discussing the works of other literary critics throughout his analysis. Distributed in the U.S. by Palgrave. Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Andrew Smith is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Glamorgan.