The Gothic Heart of Victorian Serial Fiction

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The Gothic Heart of Victorian Serial FictionAuthor(s): JULIA MCCORD CHAVEZSource: Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, Vol. 50, No. 4, The Nineteenth Century (

AUTUMN 2010), pp. 791-810Published by: Rice UniversityStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40928288Accessed: 30-01-2016 18:24 UTC

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2/21

SEL

50,

Autumn

010):

91-810

791

ISSN

039-3657

The

Gothic

Heart

of

Victorian

erial

Fiction

JULIAMCCORD CHAVEZ

On

7

October

837,

CharlesDickens's erialnovelThePost-

humous

apers

of

thePickwick

lub

1836-37)

received

nega-

tive eviewn The

dler,

nd

Breakfast-Table

ompanion,

ith he

reviewer

oncluding:

To write or he

ake

of

making

p

a

certain

quantity

f

matter,

s

unprofitable

o

both

uthor nd

reader."1

The final oublenumber f he

novel,

ssued

forNovember

837,

countershis harge funprofitabilityhroughickens's ffable

protagonist,

ho nsists:

I

shallnever

egret

aving

evoted he

greater

art

oftwo

years

to

mixing

with

differentarieties nd

shadesofhuman

haracter,

rivolouss

my ursuit

f

novelty ay

have

ppeared

o

many.Nearly

hewhole f

my revious

ife

aving

been

devoted o business and the

pursuit

f

wealth,

umerous

scenesofwhich had

no

previous

onception

avedawned

pon

me I

hope

o

the

nlargement

f

my

mind,

nd the

mprovement

of

my

nderstanding.

f

have

donebut ittle

ood,

trust

have

done

ess

harm,

nd that

none

of

my

dventures illbe

other

than source f

musing

nd

pleasant

ecollectionso me n the

decline f

ife."2

n

this

tatement,

he

oveable

ickwick

ustifies

his

wandering

dventures

s a method

or

ersonal

rowth.

Pickwick's

dventures o

cause

harm,however,

n Eliza-

beth

GaskelFs

series-turned-novel

ranford

1851-53),

when

the

charismatic

aptain

Brown

perishes

n

a

violent

ailway

accident

while,

ccording

o the

fictitious

ounty aper,

deeply

engaged

n

the

perusal

of

number f

Pickwick,'

hich

he had

just

received."3

nterestingly,

ranford

inks he

dangerousness

ofPickwickapersspecificallyo its serialproduction. ccord-

ing

to

the

village's

entral

eeper

f

rulesand

regulations,

iss

Deborah

Jenkyns,

erialization

s

"vulgar,

nd below

he

dignity

Julia McCord

Chavez s a

visiting

ssistant

professor

t

Marquette

ni-

versity

n

Milwaukee,

Wisconsin.

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/21

792

Victorian

erial iction

of iterature"

Cranford,

.

9);

it thus

poses

a

special

threat o a

community

hat seeks to retain a sense of

gentility

n

the face of

overwhelming

conomic

pressures.4

Revisiting

he debate over

the

potential

alue

and

harm ofPickwick

apers,

this

essay

aims

to theorize he

productivepotential

of the Victorian erial as a

form

hatfosters

igressive

r

wandering iterary ctivity

hathas

value

in

and

of

tself.

My analysis

of the

productive

potential

of

digression

n

the

Victorian erial

originates

n an

unlikelyplace

John

Ruskin's

radical readingof Gothic architecture n The Stones ofVenice

(1851-53).

In "The Nature of

Gothic,"

Ruskin

identifies

rregu-

larity,

s

opposed

to

perfection

r

order,

as

the milieu of hu-

man achievement.5

Reading against

the

grain,

he

suggests

the

productive

nature

of

wandering

n an era that was

increasingly

organized

around

progress

and a future-oriented

utlook that

has been linked to the

ideology

f

capitalism

and

the rise of the

middleclass.6

When viewed

through

Ruskinian

ens,

the

open-

endedness and

resulting agginess

ofthe Victorian

erial can be

seen as

creating

he conditions

or

roductivewandering

y

both

writers nd readers.Althoughhe surfacerigidityf erialproduc-

tion

might

rompt

s

to set the serial novel

against

the

rregular

Gothic,

this

essay argues

that these

texts

produce surprisingly

similar

reading

effects. nderneath

he facade

of

regularity,

he

Victorian serial even the

comic Pickwick

Papers

or

nostalgic

Cranford

has a

wandering,

Gothic

heart.

RUSKIN'S

"FANTASTIC

ARADOX"

AND

GOTHIC POSSIBILITIES

In

our

own

time,

theorists

uch

as Roland

Barthes,

Michel

Foucault,

and

Michelde Certeau

have

showna tremendous

nter-

est

n iteral nd

figurative

andering

including eading

and

its

implications

or ndividuals

acting

within

nescapable

networks

of

power.

Attention

o

the

empowering

otential

of

wandering

s

not

solely

twentieth-century

evelopment,

owever.

More than

a

century

arlier,

Ruskin

was

already

exploring

he

productive

side of

wandering

n

a

variety

f

contexts,

rom he

visual arts

to

the British ducational

system.

n

"TheNature

of

Gothic,"

Ruskin

revolutionizedhe commonperception fGothic rchitectureur-

ing

his own

wandering

ourof

taly.

n an

age

obsessed

with

rder,

control,

nd

mechanical

reproduction,

e

convincinglyrgues

that

the

mperfect

s

in

fact

uperior

o

the

perfect.

n this

radical

piece

of art

criticism,

Ruskin

champions

the

irregular

spects

of this



4/21

Julia

cCord havez

793

architecture,

nd reveals the

potentialpower

of

resisting

rder,

regularity,

nd

centralization

igured

s

perfection.

Within

his

exposition,

Ruskin

movingly

sserts

that

rregular

rchitectural

forms an be

read as an embodiment

ffreedom ecause

perfec-

tion

necessarily

carries

with t the

specter

of imitation.

Explaining

his counterintuitive

osition,

Ruskin writes:

It seems a fantastic

aradox,

but it s nevertheless most

important

ruth,

hat no architecture an be

truly

noble

which is not mperfect. nd this is easilydemonstrable.

For since the

architect,

whom we

will

suppose capable

of

doing

all

in

perfection,

annot execute the whole withhis

own

hands,

he must eithermake slaves ofhis workmen n

the old

Greek,

nd

present

English

fashion,

nd level his

work o a slave's

capacities,

which s to

degrade

t;

or

else

he must take

his

workmen s he finds

hem,

nd

let

them

show theirweaknesses

together

ith heir

trength,

hich

will nvolve he

Gothic

mperfection,

ut render he whole

workas noble as

the intellect fthe

age

can make it.

(pp.

120-1)

For

Ruskin,

Gothic rchitecture ith ts

asymmetrical

aade

and

meandering ayout

stands as

a

testament o freedom n

labor a

reaching eyond

what can be

perfectly

onstructed nd

replicated

according

o one master

plan

to

what can be

imaginedby

the

n-

dividual,

albeit f

executed

n

stone with

only

partial

success.

In

asserting

his

thesis,

Ruskin turns

away

from

otions of

Gothic

architecture s the relicof

savage

and

primitive

tate of

ociety

and insteadprivilegeswhathad been labeled as rude,grotesque,

and flawed.The

irregular

s

virtuous,

ccording

o

his

argument,

as a location of

growth

nd

development;

he

perfect

s

merely

fixed

monument o

stagnation.

Accordingly,

uskin

champions

n

irregular

esthetic,

point

made

explicit

n his

essay

when he

vehemently

sserts that "ac-

curately

peaking,

no

good

work

whatevercan

be

perfect,

nd

thedemand

for

perfection

s

always

a

sign of

misunderstanding

of

he nds

of

rt?'

p.

121).

mplicitly,

uskin

dvocates rtthat

wanders

way

from,

r

beyond,

orms

represented

s the

"per-fect")nstead f oward hem. erfections an inherentlyimiting

concept

orRuskin

ecause it

has an

end

point:

preconceived

image

r

form.

Ruskin

urther

ecognizes

he

potential

enefitsf

wandering

through

n

"aesthetic

f

generosity,"

s

Francis

O'Gorman

alls



5/21

794

Victorianerial iction

it,

"which llowed for nd saluted human failure s

productive

and

necessary."7

Ruskin makes failurecentral

to his rationale

for

privileging

he

irregular

nd

imperfect.

ailure is a

sign

of

the

apogee

of

man's

abilities,

he

asserts,

as

"no

great

man ever

stops

working

ill he has reached

his

point

of failure: hat is

to

say,

his mind s

always

far

n advance ofhis

powers

of

execution,

and the atter

willnow and then

give

way

n

trying

o follow t"

p.

121).

Wanderingmight

be seen

in the same

way,

as an

attempt

to advance

productively

nto

new

territory.

or

Ruskin,

failure,

n

theguise of mperfection,nimates life: imperfections in some

sort essential to all

that we know of

ife. t is the

sign

of ife n

a mortal

body,

that s to

say,

of a

state of

progress

nd

change.

Nothing

hat ives

s,

or can

be,

rigidly

erfect; art

of

t

s

decay-

ing,

part

nascent ...

All admit

rregularity

s

they

mply hange;

and to banish

imperfection

s to

destroy

expression,

to

check

exertion,

o

paralyze

vitality"

p.

121).

Imperfection,

nvisioned s

flux nd

incoherence,

s the condition

fbeautiful

human

work,

Ruskin

argues;

it s the

prerequisite

or

exertion" nd

"vitality."

Irregularity,

hich mbodies

hevital ct

of

wandering

r

straying

from erfect ut staticnorms, s thus transformedn Ruskin's

essay

from

n aesthetic

law o

themostbasic

condition

f

genera-

tion and

production.According

o Ruskin's

"fantastic

aradox,"

imperfection

s

absolutely

necessary

for

growth;

n

O'Gorman's

eloquent

words,

t s "the

path

toward

ull

humanity."8

nder

this

paradigm,

wandering,

physical

performance

f

imperfection,

becomes

symbolic

fa

healthy

ndividual

or

society.

What is

perhaps

most

striking

bout

Ruskin's

reading

of

architecture

s his

construction

of

"Gothic"

as a use-oriented

genericcategory.Noting ts elusive characteristics,Ruskin as-

serts that Gothic

rchitecture

s

fundamentally

efined

not

by

a

particular

formal

elationship

etween

features,

but

instead

by

its focus on

use:

Undefined

n its

slope

of

roof,

height

of

shaft,

breadth

of

arch,

or

disposition

of

ground

plan,

it can

shrink

nto

a

turret,

xpand

into

a

hall,

coil

into a

staircase,

or

spring

into a

spire,

with

undegraded

grace

and

unexhausted

energy;

nd

whenever

t finds

occasion

for

hange

in its

formrpurpose, t submits o twithout heslightestense

of oss

either

o its

unity

or

majesty

subtle

and

flexible

like a

fiery

erpent,

but

ever

attentive

o

the voice

of

the

charmer.

And

it is

one

of the chief

virtues

of

the Gothic

builders,

that

they

never

suffered

deas

of outside

sym-



6/21

Julia

cCord havez

795

metries nd consistencies to interfere ith the real use

and value ofwhat

they

did. If

hey

wanted

a

window,

hey

opened

one;

a

room,

hey

dded

one;

a

buttress,

hey

uilt

one;

utterly egardless

of

any

established

conventionali-

ties of external

ppearance.

So

that,

n the

best times of

Gothic,

useless windowwould rather

have been

opened

in

an

unexpected place

for

he sake ofthe

surprise,

han

a

useful one forbidden or he

sake of

symmetry.

(p.

123)

According

o

Ruskin,

the

defining

haracteristic f

this

architec-

tural

style

s its

emphasis

on

process

rather han

product,

nd its

value is thus

tied to use or

experience,

not

"external

ppearance"

or

the

object

itself.

A

theorization

f use

value is what

makes

Ruskin's

passionate

tributeto Gothic

architecture

powerful

tool for

understanding

the

Victorian serial's

hidden

potential

as another

use-oriented

form hat

concentrates

on

writing

nd

reading

as

process

and

develops

(either

directly

r

indirectly)

n

response

to

actual

readers.

Ruskin'sre-theorizationfwhat theGothic

ignifies

was ad-

mittedly eveloped

n an

architectural

ontext,

yet

t is

certainly

not a

stretch o

mport

Ruskin's

analysis

from

he

realmof

tones

and mortar

o the realm

ofwords

on a

page

and

the

print

ormat

of

part

ssues.

While Ruskin's

analysis

of

Gothic

architecture s

explicitly

bout

the creative

abor of

the

artisan who

produced

such

works,

t is

implicitly

bout

a

reading

experience.9

Ruskin

ends his

essay

on

'The

Nature of

Gothic"

with an

invocation

o

the reader

to

"read" the

buildings.

Specifically,

he

urges:

"the

criticism f hebuilding s to be conductedprecisely n thesame

principles

s

that of a

book;

and

it must

depend

on

the knowl-

edge,

feeling,

nd not

a littleon

the

industry

nd

perseverance

of

the

reader,

whether,

ven in

the case

of

the best

works,

he

either

perceive

hem

to be

great,

or feel

them to be

entertaining"

(p.

139).

This

final

sentence

conflates the

architecture

hat is

read

and the

work or

"industry"

f

the

reader

and

emphasizes

the

extent o

which

Ruskin's work

s a

reader of

rchitecture ed

to the

perception

of

the

extraordinary

ower

of

the

Gothic. For

Ruskin,

seeing

and

reading

become "a

single

all-encompassing

perceptualoperation."10

Moreover,

he

peculiar

tendency

f

Gothic

art and

literature

to

invite

viewer/reader

articipation

llows us

to

transfer he

artisan's

experience

o

the viewer

nd,

by

extension,

he

writer's

freedom

o

the

reader.

Criticism f

the

Gothic

often

roots

itself



7/21

796


in the

experiences

of

viewers/readers,

nd Gothic fictionhas

been

definednot

by

formal

or thematic

elements,

but

by

"the

production

f

concern,

suspense,

terror

nd ...

horror,

eriving

from

plot

turning

n what

the

reader is meant to

perceive

as

the

supernatural."11

n

identifying

he Gothic

genre

based

on an

affective

esponse produced

n

the

reader,

his definitionocates

the text

within network fuses and

privileges

he

reading

xpe-

rienceover tructural

spects

of he work.

Here,

the reader's role

is

elevated

n critical

erms;

fiction

s

only

"Gothic" o

the extent

that t elicitstheappropriate eaderresponse.

When

transferred

o the

register

f

iterature,

othic

rregular-

ity

opens up

its own

possibilities

for

generation

nd

production.

Digressions

and detours

mark these

narratives s

what Barthes

calls

"writerly"

exts,

those that

"make the reader

no

longer

a

consumer,

but a

producer

of the

text."12

lthough

Barthes

sug-

gests

that the

writerly

ext

s not a

"thing"

hatwe can

find n the

real worldbecause

it s a

process

"ourselves

writing"

irregular,

fragmentary,

nd

imperfect

othic

fiction

pproaches

this

deal.

In Barthes's "ideal

text,

the networks

re

many

and

interact,

without nyone ofthembeingable to surpass therest;thistext

. has no

beginning;

t s

reversible;

we

gain

access

to t

by

several

entrances,

none of

which can be

authoritatively

eclared

to be

the

main one."13Because

Gothic

fiction obbles

together

epa-

rate

narratives,

ften

n

the

form f

decomposing

r

fragmentary

manuscripts,

t too

resists an authoritative

enter

and allows

entry

t

multiplepoints.

This

structure,

n

turn,

facilitates

he kind

of

productive

on-

sumption

or active

reading

hat

Certeau

theorizes

n The Practice

ofEverydayLife.According oCerteau,reading s the ocationof

a

"secondaryproduction"

hat

is embedded

withinthe

process

of

using

the

text,

nd

readers

aire

not

merelypassive

receivers

ofa

text,

but

producers

n their

own

right.14

hen

encountering

texts,

Certeau

insists,

"The reader

...

invents ..

something

dif-

ferent rom

what

they

ntended'

...

He combines

their

fragments

and

creates

something

n-known

n the

space organized

by

their

capacity

for

llowing

n

indefinite

lurality

f

meanings."15

he

role

of the reader

is therefore

enerative

ather

than

stagnant.

As

Certeau

describes

t,

"an

act of

reading

s the

space

produced

by the practiceof a particularplace: a written ext."16 eading

creates

out of

the stable

text

a

fluid nd

unbounded

"space"

in

which

the reader

moves.

Of course

the

reader's

freedom

s not absolute.

Gothic

fic-

tion,

ike

any genre,

carries

with

t a set

of conventions

hat

its



8/21

Julia

cCord havez

797

readers are assumed to

recognize

and which control to some

extenta

reading

of the text.17 ome

might

ven

say

that these

conventions

ompel

a

particular

reading. According

o Michael

Riffaterre,

a

literary

ext dictates reader

responses.

To

say

the

least,

it

narrowly

ontrols ts

readers'

attention,

imits heirfree-

dom

of choice between

possible

readings,

or even cancels

out

options

that

they

may

have believed available

in

theirfirst can-

ning

of the verbal

sequence."18

n

keeping

with

this

perspective,

some scholars assert that

Gothic iterature s

primarily

ngaged

in manipulatingpassive readers.19Othershave read Gothic fic-

tion

quite

differently,

ssociating

t with

ctive

reading

practices,

whether

hose are as

simple

as

"making

ense" of the

textor as

complex

as

"challenging]

readers to detect

and

circumvent he

narratorial cons'

played

by

the

texts,"

hereby

hallenging

hem

"to be criticalor

writerly'

eaders."20

till others have

described

the

Gothic

reading

experience

as a tense

mixture f

active and

passive

participation.21

Debra Gettelman's

recent work on

reading

and

reverie

pro-

vides a

framework or

understanding

he

conflicted ccounts of

Gothicreading.She identifies a tension betweenthe engross-

ing

pleasures

of

reverie nd the

necessary protections

gainst

its

alleged liability

o

disruptive

xcess" as a

central

dialectic

n

nineteenth-century

iction.22n

her

analysis

of

daydreaming

n

the

Gothically

nflected

ane

Eyre,

she

convincingly

rgues

that

wandering

r

"punctuated"

eading,

n

which

the

reader's "inter-

est

rotates between

the

print,

he

illustrations,

nd the

narra-

tives

she

invents,"

was in

fact

expected

n

this

period.23

ather

than

any anticipation

of

focused

attention,

Gettelman

asserts

that "the mind ofthe readerwas seen alternately o be riveted

to and

to wander

from he

text at

hand."24

he

Victorian

erial,

with ts

enforced

nterruptions,

mbodies an

equivalent

model

of

wandering

eading.

THE

VICTORIAN

ERIAL'S

GOTHIC HEART

Michelle

A.

Mass has

characterized

he

Gothic

genre

s "a

se-

rialwrit

arge,"

nd

this

observation

uggests

a

provocative

exus

between

Ruskin's

unusual

theorization f

Gothic

rregularity

nd

theVictorian erial.25 n thesurface, heVictorian erialappears

antithetical o

Gothic

fiction,

precise

and

regular

form

hat cor-

rects the

excesses of

Gothic

rregularity.

erial

fiction

ppearing

in

part-issues

or

within

he

pages

of

weekly

r

monthly

magazines

followed

rigid

publication

schedule and

predictable

format. n



9/21

798

Victorian

erial iction

this

way,

serialization

aligns

itselfwith mechanical

perfection

and

regularity.26

ickwick

apers,

for

xample,

followed

regular

publication

chedule

with

imited

xceptions),

nd

always ported

a

recognizable green

cover.

Readers

knew how

many pages

to

expect

n

each

installment,

nd Dickens's

tendency

o craft

arts

that could

stand as coherent

units,

as well as

links

n

the chain

of the

ongoing

narrative,

et

up predictable

narrative

patterns

and

reading

practices.

Serialization controlled the

engrossing

pleasures

of

reverie,"

or t

parceled

out novels n small bits over

an extendedperiodoftime.

This is not

the end

of the

story,

however,

for

the

serial's

surface

regularity

ides its Gothic heart. Because serialization

elongates

narrative,

llowing

or

ts

development

ver

ime,

his

publication

trategy

mphasizes process

not

product.

The result

is a

wandering,

meandering

tructure hat

produces

a

generative

reading

xperience.

Accordingly,

his s an

inherently

aradoxical

form;

n

the surface

t

seems

regular

nd ordered a vehicle for

disciplining

he reader but

this masks an

irregular,

andering,

and

potentially

ubversive

side

just

waiting

to

emerge during

theprocess ofreading.By looking t thepossible uses of serial

texts

the

ways

in

which

they

foster ctive

reading

practices

one can see a

theory

f

productive

wandering

mbedded

within

this

genre.

This is even the case

for wo

nominally

onservative

Victorian erials: Dickens's

pioneering

Pickwick

Papers,

a text

that was

originally

ublished

in

twentymonthly

nstallments,

and

Gaskell's

Cranford,

riginally

ublished

as nine stories

in

HouseholdWords.

Formost n the

early

o

mid-Victorian

eriod,

he

activity

f

wandering ouldhavehad negativeonnotations. sAnneD.

Wallace

rgues

n

Walking,

iterature,

nd

English

ulture:

he

Origins

nd Uses

of

eripatetic

n heNineteenth

entury,

ander-

ing,

articularly

n

foot,

ad a

long

ssociation

with

riminality.

For

much f

England's

istory,eggars, agrants,

tinerant

er-

chants even

walkers were onsidered

uspicious

nd

nherently

dangerous.27

riting

t

midcentury,

enryMayhew

einforced

this ssociation

with

riminality

hrough

is characterization

f

"the omadic aces

of

England"

n

London abour

nd the

ondon

Poor.

Dividing

he

Wandering

ribes f his

Country"

nto

rural

nomads" uch as vagrants,ramps,nd peddlers,nd "urban

and

suburbanwanderers"

uch

as

pickpockets,

eggars,

rosti-

tutes,

nd

street

ellers,

Mayhew

oncludes

hat

oth

ypes ose

a

danger

y "preying

pon

the

earnings

f hemore ndustrious

portion

f he

ommunity."28

n

keeping

ith his

ominant

train,



10/21

Julia

cCord havez

799

a

pervasive

distrustof

wandering

nflects he narratives f both

Pickwick

apers

and

Cranford.

While Dickens's novel

specifically ngages

with the

trope

of

wandering, romising

ts readers

n

a March 1836

advertisement

from he Athenaeum "a faithful ecord

of

the

perambulations,

perils,

travels,

adventures,

and

sporting

transactions of the

corresponding

members,"

Dickens's Pickwickian travelers

are

not

presented

n

a

particularly

roductive

ight.29

ickwick nd

his

friends

pend

most of their ime

eating consuming)

nstead

ofworkingproducing), nd whiletheyare ostensiblypursuing

knowledge,

hey

re most

notable as

silly

buffoonswho continu-

ally

find hemselves

n

trouble.Whether t is Pickwick

running

afterhis

own

hat

in

a moment f"ludicrousdistress"

p.

62),

his

bogus

antiquarian

find hat stands

as "an

illegible

monument f

Mr. Pickwick's

greatness"

p.

158),

his

pivotal

misunderstanding

withMrs. Bardell

resulting

n

a

"lovely

urden

n

his arms" and a

subsequent

stint

n

the Fleet

p.

161),

or a drunkPickwick

eing

"wheeled o the

Pound,

and

safelydeposited

therein,

ast

asleep

in

the

wheelbarrow,

o the

mmeasurable

delight

nd

satisfaction,

not onlyof all the boys in the village,but three fourths f the

whole

population" p.

256),

this wanderer s

repeatedly

epicted

as oafish.

Indeed,

he sums

up

the central

thrust of the narra-

tive when he reflects o his

companions:

"Is it not a wonderful

circumstance .. thatwe seem

destined

to

enterno man's

house,

without

nvolving

im in

some

degree

of trouble?

Does it

not,

I

ask,

bespeak

the

ndiscretion, r,

worse

than

that,

he blackness

of heart that I

should

say

so of

my

followers,

hat,

beneath

whatever

oof

hey

ocate,

they

isturb

he

peace

ofmind nd

hap-

pinessof omeconfidingemale?"p. 242). Although umorously

presented,

hese

representations

epict

wandering

s a

definitively

nonproductive,

erhaps

even

tainted,

ctivity.30

Wandering

akes on a

more

openly

inister alence

n

Gaskell's

Cranford.

n

this

stable,

rule-oriented

ommunity,

andering

cts

as an

especially disruptive

orce.The

"strange"

ickwick

apers,

a

text about

wanderers,

precipitatesCaptain

Brown's death in

the first

pisode

of

Cranford,

nd a

"journey

o Paris"

results

in

the

death of

Miss

Matty's

old

flameMr.

Holbrook n the

second

(pp.

22,

38).

Peter

Jenkyns's

global

wandering

s linked

specifi-

callyto his misconductas a youngman and thepublic beating

that

ccompanied

t

pp.

53-9).

Wandererswho

come to

Cranford,

such as

the

conjurer ignor

Brunoni

nd

an Irish

beggar

woman,

are

immediately uspected

of

criminal

conduct. Wanderers

are

assumed to be

aberrant

actors in

the "honest and

moral town"



11/21

800


of

Cranford,

nd

they

re

equated

in

dangerousness

to "the Red

Indians

or the French"

p.

90).

Given

these novels'

apparent

condemnation f

wandering,

t

might

be

tempting

o see them as testaments to

unproductive

digression

loose and

baggy

narratives hatwere

simply

ntended

to be consumed

by passive

readers as a

way

to

fill

ime.This

per-

spective

has,

in

fact,

been

championed by

those who conclude

thatbecause Pickwick

s

"a

plotless

story

..

Our

reading

nvolves

no

interpreting,

o

speculating,

no

predicting,

o

expectations."31

While wouldagreewith characterization fPickwick apers as

"plotless,"

s

well

as with similar characterizations

f

Cranford,

the

episodic

nature

of

these

texts s the

key

to their

productive-

ness,

forthis

wandering,nonteleological

tructure

mphasizes

the idea

of

reading

as

process,

rather han text

s

product.32

n

bothPickwick

apers

and

Cranford,

he heartof

torytelling

s not

in the

ending,

but instead

in

the

path

that s taken. As Michael

Cotsell

has noted

in

his

exploration

f the

relationship

etween

Pickwick

apers

and travel

narratives,

the novel is

highly

un-

end-orientated

.. there s

very

ittle nvestment

n

arriving

t a

specificdestination."33nstead, Pickwick's ourneys are "ram-

blingly

ircular,

digressive,

t the

impulse

of

curiosity,

whim,

and chance

... What the reader

of Pickwick

apers

enjoys,

then,

is the sense of

going,

but nowhere

n

particular."34

his focus

on

process

is

perhaps

even

more obvious

in

Cranford,

a series of

loosely

onnected

omic necdotes

without

ny

conventional

lot"

that takes

place

in a static ocation.35

n

both

cases,

the serial's

digressiveness

ncourages

readers

to focus on

the workofmak-

ing meaning,

rather

than a

particular

end result.

Through

this

focus on process and use, we see these serialnovelsembodying

a

theory

f

productivewandering

or oth

theirwriters

nd their

"writerly"

eaders.

Many

have dentified

he serialization

fPickwick

apers

as

the

turning

oint

n Dickens's

literary

areer,

nd it is

worth hink-

ing

about

why

this

particular

workresulted

n

such

gains

by

its

creator.

Anny

adrin

offers

ne answer

n the course

of

nalyzing

the

fragmentary

ature

of the text.She

writes hat serialization

"meant

aking

isks,

t

required

n

adventurous

ttitude

o

iterary

creation and

implied

the

acceptance

of

mperfection,

ccidents,

change,finitude, eath."36 his description f serialwritingon-

verges

withRuskin's

theory

f

the

Gothic,

or t

recognizes

hat a

wandering

pproach

to

composition

eads to

the attainment

f

un-

expected

iterary

chievement.

n

"acceptance

of

mperfection"

s

a built-in

omponent

f

iterary

roduction

reates

the

conditions



12/21

Julia

cCord havez 801

for

rganic

growth

n

writing.

erialization,

s

Glyn

A.

Strange's

study

of

paired episodes

in

Pickwick

Papers

demonstrates,

s

an

essentially

organic

form hat allows

an

author

to

shape

the

text as it

develops.

By rewriting

arly

scenes later

n

the

novel,

Strange argues,

Dickens was able

to

push

the initial

conception

ofhis hero

from "comicbutt" o a truehero.37 o

expand

on

this

observation,

RobertL. Patten

has

argued

that "the serial install-

ments ... reconsidertheirown

materials,

and in

so

doing grow

up,

change

from n

assemblage

ofdisconnected

documents,

ike

themonthly arts themselves, nto a story, ne markedalways

by

the same

wrapper

design

yet continuously

reexamining

ts

initial

lphabet/'38

atten's

analysis may privilege

unified ext

rather han the

"assemblage

of disconnected

documents,"

yet

t

acknowledges

the

fragmentary

art

as

the

generative

unit. His

account locates the

elasticitynecessary

foran author's fullest

development

n the

fragmentariness

f

the serial form.

Dickens's

philosophy

f erialization s

expressed

n the

1837

Preface o Pickwick

apers,

which

required

ach

installment o

be

a

coherent nit

yet

lso

part

of he

arger

whole,

uggests

another

way nwhich hefragmentaryatureof erialpublication rovides

a

dual

approach

to

composition

hat

allows

its

author to outdo

himor

herself.

While

ncouraging

he authorto

craft

"complete"

number,

omething

ike

Gothic rtisan

crafting

finished

culp-

turefor he

faade

of

building,

erial

publication

presupposes

a

fluid lement

f

omposition

hatallows the

discrete nstallments

to combine with a

sense of

"gentle

nd

not unnatural

progress"

(p.

6).

In the

case of Pickwick

Papers,

this allowed the text

to

extend

beyond

the

scope

of ts

original

boundaries.39

here

is

a

certainGothic abundance in this approach, "whichencourages

the

throwing

orward f narrative

ines,"

even

if

they

cannot all

be

developed.40

he

inclusionofvaried

possibilities

hrough

hese

multiple

ines sets the

groundwork

or

he realizationof

"noble"

work,

n

Ruskin's

terms,

ven if t

leaves

straggling,

nresolved,

and

digressive

emainders.

The

productive

potential

of serial

writing

was

limited,

of

course,

by

the actualities

of he

Victorian

ublishing

world.

While

serial

writing

eems

to have

worked

marvelously

for

Dickens,

Gaskell

found t

to be

taxing

and

frustrating

ue to

Dickens's

editorial interference"nd theirdifferencesfopinionabout the

ideal serialform.41

hile

Dickens

favored

modelof

elf-contained

parts,

Gaskell

desired "a

more

eisurely

ace

for

he

development

of

plot

and

the

entanglement

f her

audience,"

and this

caused

some friction.42

otwithstanding

his

tension,

Cranford

emon-



13/21

802

Victorian

erial iction

strates the

power

of the serial form o

generate

narrative.While

the first tories

n

this series

are

episodic,

with clear breaks of

time

eparating

hem,

Cranfords

nstallments

ventually xpand

into

onger

narratives.

By

the fifth

nstallment,

he

story

f

"The

Great Cranford

anic"

cannot be contained

n

a

single

issue of

Household Words nd is instead

broken nto Two

Chapters"

hat

appeared

in the issues

for and

15

January

1853.

As the

novel

continues,

t becomes

more

ntegrated,ust

as Pickwick

apers

does,

relinquishing

clear

temporal

gaps

between

episodes

in

favor fa seamless storyline. uringthe course ofpublication,

Gaskell's short

sketches

morph

into sustained

narrative.The

similar

rajectories

ollowed

y

both

Dickens and Gaskell

suggest

the

generative

ature ofthis

publishing

form.

If serialization

provedproductive

orDickens and

Gaskell,

t

also had its rewards

or eaders.Pickwick

apers

s often

dentified

as the

watershedmoment

or henovel

s

commodity

ext,

nd the

Victorian

erial s seen as

a vehiclefor

ncreasing

he

consumption

offiction.43

hile an

analysis

ofthe economic

factors

ehind the

Victorian

ublishing

oom s

extremely

elpful

or

nderstanding

themomentn which these textswerepublishedand theirrela-

tionship

o other

publishing

formats,

t s worthwhile

o examine

this

consumption

more

closely.

The

forced

nterruptions

reated

by

a form

hat

by

definition

ispersed

the text

within

veryday

life

simultaneously

provided

an

environment

n

which certain

kinds of

productive

r

generative

eading

were

ikely

o take

place.

Because of ts

temporal

disruptions,

he

Victorian erial

is

more

"writerly"

han

might

e

imagined

nd

particularly

ulnerable

to

the

kinds of

"poaching"

hat Certeau

theorizes.44

According o Linda K. Hughes and Michael Lund's seminal

work

on the Victorian

erial,

this

genre's

enforced

scillation

be-

tween ext

world nd

real

world

provided

n

opportunity

or

ead-

ers

to become

secondary

producers

who "enriched

he

imagined

world"with

heir ived

experiences.

They

thus

participated

n the

creative

rocess

as

temporary

oauthors

of he text.45

urely

this

is a

case of "ourselves

writing"

s

Barthes

magines

t,

a

kind of

"production

without

roduct."46

oreover,

his

s a

phenomenon

that,

fnot

unique,

s at

least

ntensified

n

serial

fiction

s

opposed

to

other

forms.As

Bill Bell

has

argued,

the

enforced

aps

in the

text aused by publicationovertimerender heseriala uniquely

contingent

orm

n which

the traditional

inear

model

of

writing

"is

repeatedly

disrupted by

a kind

of simultaneous

production

and

consumption."47

n this

way,

the

serial

form

mbodies

the

dialectic

of

reading

that Gettelman

has

shown

to be

already

n

play

within

nineteenth-century

iction.



14/21

Julia

cCord havez

803

In the case of Pickwick

apers

this

process

is

foregrounded

by

the

prominent

se

of

nterpolated

ales,

which

interrupt

he

narrative

n

ways

that mimic

serial

breaks.

In

contrast

to the

good-natured

Pickwickians,

hese tales

highlight

berrant

wan-

derers

Stroller, onvict,Madman,

and

even

"Goblins

who stole

a

Sexton"

p.

380).

All of hese tales are

sensational,

autonomous

with

regard

o the

main

narrative,

nd set off rom

he main text

visually by

means of

separate

headings.

In this

way they

ntro-

duce,

yet

also

compartmentalize

nd

contain,

the

sensational,

drawing eparate spheresfor hehumorous and darkersides of

Dickens's novel.

Many

critics

have notedthatthe

majority

f hese tales

appear

in

the first alf of the

novel,

and

some

have

concluded that this

simply

eflects ickens's

undeveloped

kills as a novelist.Rather

than dismiss these

tales as

unimportant

igressions

r mere

filler,

however,

contendthat

theyplay

a vital role n

creating

Gothic

effect hat

in turn fosters ctive

reading

practices.

The uneven

presence

ofthe sensational and melodramatic

nterpolated

ales

amid the

ongoing

narrative fMr.Pickwick's

aily

ife nfusesthe

textwith a sense of rregularityhatprevents herhythmic pi-

sodes

from

ecoming

monotonous.These breaks from he novel's

dominantrealist mode

emphasize

the

elasticity

fthe

narrative,

replicating

heroleof

heuseless

(or

perhaps

decorative)

indow f

Ruskin's Gothic

rchitecture,

hich s

"opened

n an

unexpected

place

for he sake of he

surprise."

Appearing poradically

within

the

regular

erial

installments,

hese

interpolated

ales function

as

textualdisorientations hat

prompt

eaders to wander

produc-

tively

rom he central

narrative.

Textualdisorientations also furtheredythenovel'scumber-

some

nature.

In

Pickwick

apers,

readers

encounter xcesses at

every

urn: xtra

verbiage;

xtra tories n the form f

nterpolated

tales;

illustrations

epicting

rowds;

ven a

chapter

hat

overruns

its

designated ength,

equiring

second

part.48

ickens's novel

includes

hundreds

of

potential

readings

because of

ts

excesses,

and its

original

erial readers

were asked to

assume the role of

an editor

aced,

ike

Boz,

with

n

"overabundanceof

notes."49

n-

deed,

each number of

the novel

ncludes

miscellaneous content

that

frustrates

ny

totalizing

nification. he

second

number,

or

example, ncludes thesensational The Stroller's ale,"alongwith

an

illustration;

n

episode

nvolving

ickwick t a

military

arade,

complete

with

llustration;

nd an

episode

depicting

Mr.

Winkle's

horse

trouble,

gain

with

n

illustration

pp.

49-79).

Rather han

continuing

single

plot

ine,

hese three

omponents

re

relatively

autonomous,

like

separate

contributions o one

magazine.

The



15/21

804 Victorianerial iction

thirdnumber

presents

a similar

scenario,

blending

Pickwick's

attendance at a card

party;

poem

entitled The

vy

Green";

the

sensational tale of The Convict's

Return";

an

episode

about

a

cricket

match,

with

llustration;

nd a romantic nterlude etween

Mr.

Tupman

and Miss Rachel

Wardle,

omplete

with llustration

(pp.

80-120).

This noncentralized tructure hares

with

Gothic

architecture nd fiction he

"writerly"uality

f

multiple oints

of

access,

embodying

hat MarkWormald haracterizes

s a

"spirit

of

potentially

narchic

extravagance."50

erhaps

for his

very

ea-

son,Pickwick aperswas reviewed arly n as a periodical nd not

a novel.51ts review

n

the

dler,

nd

Breakfast-Table

ompanion,

for

xample,

appeared

under the

heading

The

Magazines."

These

early

installments

of Pickwick

Papers

anticipate

the

format fmid-Victorian

opular

literary

eriodicalsby providing

variety:

tories evoted o

everyday

ife,

ports,

omance,

ensation

fiction,

oetry,

nd illustrations.

hrough

his

heterogeneity,

ick-

ens's novel offers

preview

f the

intertextual

eading

practices

that serial fiction tself

nvites.While

most Victoriannovels

can

be

read as

participating

n a network

f

ontemporary

iscourses,

intertextualeading s heightenedwith erialpublication ecause

serial

texts re themselves

ragmentary

causing

readers

to more

readily

it hem nto

arger

networks f

discourse nstead

of

eeing

them

as

hermetically

ealed

locations

of

meaning.

This is most

obvious

fornovels

that were

printed

within

periodicals,

uch

as

Dickens's

own Household

Words,

or

ere the

ntertextual ontext

is

literally ight

t

hand.

Cranford,

or

nstance,

was

published

within a network

of

travel

columns;

Orientalist

essays

on India and

other

foreign

locations;informativerticleson everyday opics such as sand,

silk,

needles,

and

lamp

oil;

essays relating

o

children;

nd

sen-

sational

tales

of the

supernatural.

Deborah

Wynne

has

argued

that "Victorian

eaders

were

nvited

y

editors o

adopt

an inter

textual

approach

to

magazines

by

reading

each issue's

texts

n

conjunction

with ach

other,

ncouraging

he

making

f hematic

connections

between

he

serial

novel and

otherfeatures

hrough

the

power

of

uxtaposition."52

he eclectic

content

of Household

Words

llows for

many

pathways

hrough

Gaskell's

novel.

The se-

rialized

olumn

"A

Roving nglishman,"

or

xample,

draws extra

attention o the staticnature ofGaskell's Amazoniansociety.53

Various

articles

on

India

such as

"Pearls

from

he

East,"

"The

Peasants

of

British

ndia,"

Three Colonial

Epochs,"

"An ndian

Wedding,"

nd

"Silk

from

he

Punjaub,"

draw

a reader's

atten-

tion

to

Orientalism

n the

novel

and the

Peter

Jenkyns

ubplot.54



16/21

Julia

cCord havez

805

Articles n less-exotic

opics,

uch as

"Needles,"

British

otton,"

and

"Playthings,"

mphasize

Cranfords

epresentation

fdomestic

life.55 t the same

time,

arious articles

ouching

n

supernatural

topics

draw readers' attention o

the

Gothic

passages

ofGaskell's

novel,

hose momentswhen

ghosts

and

spirits rupt

through

he

quiet

lives of

the

novel's

protagonists.56

Reinforcing ynne's

haracterization f

purposeful eriodical

intertextuality,

he articles n Household Wordsoftenreference

each other.The

writer f "The True Tom Tiddler's

Ground,"

for

example,mentions arlier rticlesdirectly:At agethreehundred

and

fifty

four

second,

and

at

page

five

hundred

and

ninety-five

of our third

volume,

t will be found that we have called atten-

tionto the wealth derivable

from

hemical

products

obtained

out

of

peat."57 imilarly,

n article entitled Wonderful

oys"

refers

back to

a

previous

article

on

"The

Pedigree

of

Puppets."58

n

this

same

vein,

a short rticle

by

Dickens entitled

Chips:

The

Ghost

of the Cock Lane Ghost

WrongAgain,"

which

exposes

the fraud

of an "exhibitor f the

spirit-rapping

t the small

charge

of one

guinea

per

head,"

resonates

strongly

ith

Gaskell's

description

f

SignorBrunoni'smagicshow in theprevious ssue's installment

of

Cranford.59

ithin he

periodical

context,

he novel is

placed

in

obvious conversationwith other

texts,

n addition to

larger

bodies of discourse.

Importantly,

he

intersections etween the central

narrative

and the

interpolated

ales of

Pickwick

apers

work n

much the

same

way

as the

engineered ntertextuality

fthe

aterVictorian

familymagazine.

As

the novel

progresses,

he

centralrealistnar-

rative f

Dickens's

novel

begins

to draw

directly

n the

sensational

Gothicmodethat the nterpolated ales represent. hemundane

debtor's

prison

n

which Pickwick

findshimself s

pointedly

e-

scribed as "a

range

of

damp

and

gloomy

tone

vaults beneath

the

ground,"

nvoking mages

of

Gothic

crypts p.

544).

In

addi-

tion,

Pickwick'sown

story

akes on valences from

he

previous

sensational

tales,

reincorporating

hem within

a realist

frame-

work.

Pickwick's

ntry

nto the coffee-room

allery

fthe

prison,

where he

observes a

"young

woman,

with a child in

her

arms,

who seemed

scarcely

ble to

crawl,

from

maciation

nd

misery,"

strongly

choes

the

pathetic

description

f

debtor's

prison

n

the

prior nterpolated ale of The Old Man's Tale about the Queer

Client"

pp.

550,

279-80).

Similarly,

ickwick's

musings

on

why

"a

dingy-looking

ly

hat

was

crawling

verhis

pantaloons"

would

choose to

inhabit "a

close

prison,

when he

had the

choice of so

many airy

ituations" choes

the

punch

line of

prior

ale

about



17/21

806

Victorianerial

iction

hauntedchambers

pp.

550,

278).

These connections

rompt

readers

o wander rom hecentral

arrativefPickwick

apers

to the

prior nterpolated

ales and back

again,forging

etworks

of

meaning

within he

text.Andherein ies

the hidden alue of

Pickwick

apers

s

serial

iction: Gothic eart hat

equires

rit-

ers and

readers o focus

heir ffortsn

vital

production

ather

than tatic

roduct.

CONCLUSION

The

experimental

nd

episodic

ickwick

apers

nd

Cranford

paved

the

way

for hemassive

multiplot

ictorian

erialsof he

1860s

and 1870s.

n the

pirit

f

Dickens's nd Gaskell's

round-

breaking

ovels,

hese

"writerly"

erials

continued

o

provide

alternatives

o entrenched

iterary

ierarchies uch

as

writer/

reader,

roducer/consumer,

nd

reality/fiction.

hile

erialfic-

tion

rguably

articipates

n

technologies

f

discipline

yputting

fiction

nd

ts

readers

n

periodical

chedules,

t

simultaneously

creates heconditionsor eaders ogaingreatergencywithin

the

writer-reader-text

ircuit.

he

digressions

uilt nto he

erial

form ender

uch texts

ich ites

forCerteau's

eaderly

poach-

ing"

nd Barthes's

writerly"roduction.

ictorian

erial

fiction,

whichnecessitates

wandering eading

ractice

ecause

of ts

extended

ublication

ftextual

arts,

does not

imit

eaders o

saying

yes"

r

"no" o

a

given

ext; nstead,

t

provides

n

oppor-

tunity

or eaders

o

experience

eading

s

process

nd to share

in the

writerly

ork f

producing

hetext.

NOTES

1

Review

fThe

Pickwick

apers,

No.

18,

by

Charles

Dickens,

The

dler,

and

Breakfast-Table

ompanion

,

23

(7

October

837):

149-50,

149.

2

Dickens,

The Posthumous

apers

of

he

Pickwick

lub,

ed. Mark

Wormald

(London:

enguin

ooks,

1999),

p.

749.

Subsequent

references

o ThePost-

humous

apers

of

he

ickwick

lub,

hereafter

ickwick

apers,

re

from

his

edition

nd

will

ppear

parenthetically

n the

text

y page

number.

3

Elizabeth

askell,

ranford,

d.

Elizabeth

orges

Watson

Oxford:

xford

Univ.

Press,

1998),

p.

17.

Subsequent

references

o

Cranford

re from

his

edition nd

will

ppearparenthetically

n

the text

y page

number.

4The

authority

f hisdecisive tatements belied, f ourse,

by

the se-

rial

publication

f

Cranford

n Dickens's

own

weeklymagazine,

Household

Words.

5

John

Ruskin,

The

Nature

f

Gothic,"

n The

Stones

of

Venice,

d. Jan

Morris

Mount

Kisco

NY:

Moyer

ell,

1989),

pp.

118-39.

Subsequent

refer-



18/21

Julia

McCord havez

807

enees to TheStones

of

Venice re from his

chapter

nd edition ndwill

p-

pear

parenthetically

n the text

y

page

number.

6Amanpal

Garcha,

Styles

f

Stillness

nd Motion:Market

ulture

nd

Narrative

orm n

Sketches

y

Boz" DSA 30

(2001):

1-22,

5-6.

7

Francis

O'Gorman, Ruskin, enice,

nd theNature f

Gothic,"

n Vic-

torian

othic,

d. Karen

Say

r and

Rosemary

Mitchell

Horsforth

K: Leeds

Centre or

Victorian

tudies,

2003),

pp.

99-109,

107.

8

O'Gorman,

.

108. While

Christopher

on

Delogu

has

argued

hat In-

feriority

nd

mperfection

re not elebrated

r

pursued

s such

[in

Ruskin's

essay],

ut

recognized

nd

accepted

s the rue nd

proper

ature

f

hings,"

thefervorfRuskin's hetoricuts gainst his nterpretation"On heNatureofGothicnd theLessonsof

Ruskin,"

aliban33

[1996]:

101-10,

107).

John

Unrau's

xpos

of heobvioushistorical rrorsn Ruskin's

epresentation

f

Gothic

rtisans

upportsmy

eading

fRuskin

by

pointing

ut thatRuskin

emphasizednferiority

nd

mperfection

ore han hehistorical

nformation

about the

period

warranted

"Ruskin,

heWorkman nd the

Savageness

of

Gothic,"

n New

Approaches

oRuskin: hirteen

ssays,

ed. Robert ewison

[London:

Routledge

nd

Kegan

Paul,

1981],

pp.

33-50).

9

Caroline

Levine,

The SeriousPleasures

oj

Suspense:

Victorian eal-

ism nd Narrative oubt

Charlottesville:

niv.

of

Virginia

ress,

2003),

pp.

30-6.

10

lexandraK.Wettlaufer,n theMind'sEye:The Visual mpulse n Di-

derot,

audelaire nd Ruskin

Amsterdam:

odopi,

003),

p.

220.

For

more

on Ruskin's isual

reading

methods,

ee LindaM.

Austin,

Ruskin's

recriti-

cal

Reading,"

7J

9

(1991):

71-88;

and ElizabethK.

Helsinger,

uskin nd

theArt

f

heBeholder

Cambridge

A:Harvard

Univ.

Press,

1982).

Ruskin

directly

onnects

reading

and

work,

s well as

reading

nd

productive

wandering,

n his

1864 lectures n

education,

esame

and

Lilies. n these

lectures,

we

again

see Ruskin

preach[ing]

adical

hange"

nd

linking

hat

change

o a

wandering

ttitude

Deborah

Epstein

Nord,

Editor's ntroduc-

tion,"

n

Sesame

and

Lilies,

y

Ruskin

New

Haven:Yale

Univ.

Press,

2002],

pp.

xiii-xxiv,

iii).

11

David H. Richter,Gothic antasia: The Monsters nd theMyths,A

Review-Article,"

Cent

28,

2

(Spring

1987):

149-70,

152.

Richter

abels

this the

"constructional" ode of

defining

othic iction

p.

151).

See,

for

example,

inda

Bayer-Berenbaum,

The

Relationship

f

Gothic rt o

Gothic

Literature,"

n The

Gothic

magination:xpansion

n

Gothic iteraturend Art

(Rutherford

J:

Fairleigh

ickinson

Univ.

Press,

1982),

pp.

47-72;

Stephen

Bernstein,

Form nd

Ideology

n

theGothic

Novel,"

LWIU

8,

2

(Fall

1991):

151-65;

MarkM.

Hennelly

r.,

Melmothhe

Wanderernd

Gothic xisten-

tialism,"

EL

21,

4

(Autumn

981):

665-79;

NormanN.

Holland

nd Leona

F.

Sherman,

Gothic

ossibilities," LH8,

2

(Winter

977):

279-94;

Edward

Jacobs,

"Anonymous

ignatures:

Circulating

ibraries,

Conventionality,

and

the Production

f

Gothic

Romances,"

LH

62,

3

(Fall 1995): 603-29;Robin

Lyndenberg,

GothicArchitecturend Fiction:A

Survey

fCritical

Responses,"

entR

2,

1

(1978):

95-109;

and Rebecca E.

Martin,

'I

Should

Liketo

Spend

My

WholeLife n

Reading

t':

Repetition

nd

the

Pleasure of

the

Gothic,"

NT

8,

1

(Winter

998):

75-90.

12

oland

Barthes,

/Z,

trans.

RichardMiller

New

York:

Hill nd

Wang,

1974),

p.

4.



19/21

808


13Barthes,

.

5.

14

Michel e

Certeau,

hePractice

f veryday ife,

rans. tevenRendali

(1984;

rprt.

erkeley:

niv.

fCalifornia

ress,

1988),

p.

xiii.

15

Certeau,

.

169.

16

Certeau,

.

117.

17

Jacobs,

pp.

616-7.

18

Michael

iffaterre,

Compelling

eader

Responses,"

n

Reading eading:

Essays

on the

Theory

nd Practice

fReading,

d.

Andrew ennett

Finland:

Univ.

f

Tampere

ress,

1993),

pp.

85-106,

85.

19Hennellymagines

an

ntimately

nvolved,

lmost

aptured

udience"

(p. 666), and Bernstein ositsthat

"the

operation

f the

gothic

ext s to

secure n the

subject

certain

raining

n,

and

acceptance

f,

he

approved

path

toward

deological

nterpellation

ia

matrimony"

p.

156).

20

Holland

nd

Sherman,

.

280; Jacobs,

p.

618.

21

Martin,

p.

80-1.

22Debra

Gettelman,

"Making

ut' Jane

Eyre,"

LH

74,

3

(Fall 2007):

557-81,

558.

23

Gettelman,

.

567.

24

Gettelman,

.

559.

25

Michelle

A.

Mass,

In theName

of

Love:

Women,

asochism,

nd the

Gothic

Ithaca:

Cornell

Univ.

Press,

1992),

p.

20.

26

Margaret eetham heorizes hecompeting

eatures f the

periodi-cal form s

"open"

nd "closed"n Towards

Theory

f he Periodical s a

Publishing

enre,"

n

Investigating

ictorian

ournalism,

d. Laurel

Brake,

Aled

Jones,

nd Lionel

Madden

New

York:

St.

Martin's

ress,

1990),

pp.

19-32,

27.

27

nneD.

Wallace,

Walking,

iterature,

nd

English

ulture:

he

Origins

and

Uses

of

Peripatetic

n the

Nineteenth

entury

Oxford:

larendon

ress,

1993),

pp.

27-34.

28

HenryMayhew,

ondon

abour nd

theLondon

oor;

Cyclopedia

f

theCondition

nd

Earnings

f

Those that

Will"

Work,

hose that"Cannot"

Work,

nd

Those that"Will

ot"

Work,

vols.

(London:

Griffin,

ohn,

and

Company, 861-62),1:2.29 dvertisementor hePickwick

apers,

n TheAthenaeum: ournal

f

English

nd

Foreign

iterature,cience,

nd the

FineArts

26

March

1836):

232.

30

ames

Buzardhas

noted

he onnection

etween

andering

nd

vulgar-

ity

n

"Wulgarity

nd

Witality:

n

Making

Spectacle

f

Oneself

n

Pickwick,"

in Victorian

ulgarity:

aste in

Verbal nd

Visual

Culture,

d.

Susan

David

Bernstein

nd Elsie

B. Michie

Surrey

K:

Ashgate,

009),

pp.

35-53.

31

Anny

adrin,

Fragmentation

n ThePickwick

apers,"

USA

22

(1993):

21-34,

25.

32Talia

chaffer,

Craft,

uthorial

nxiety,

nd The Cranford

apers,'"

VPR

38,

2

(Summer 005):

221-39,

224;

Hilary

M.

Schor,

cheherezade

n

the

Marketplace:

lizabethGaskell ndtheVictorianovelNew ork:Oxford

Univ.

Press,

1992),

p.

87.

33

Michael

otsell,

The ickwick

apers

nd

Travel:

A

Critical

iversion,

DQu3,

1

(March

1986):

5-17,

7.



20/21

Julia

McCord havez

809

34Cotsell,

p.

7-8.

Tobey

C.

Herzog

has

similarly

oted hat he

circle,

rather han

the

ine,

tructures henovel

"The

Merry

ircle

f

ThePickwick

Papers:

A

Dickensian

aradigm,"

NNTS

0,

1

[Spring

988]: 55-63).

35

Schaffer,

.

224.

36Sadrin,

.

23.

37Glyn

.

Strange,

Paired

pisodes

n Pickwick"

ickens tudiesNews-

letter

2,

1

(March1981):

6-8,

6-7.

38

Robert .

Patten,

Serialized

Retrospection

n The Pickwick

apers"

in

Literaturen the

Marketplace:

ineteenth-Century

ritish

ublishing

nd

Reading

Practices,

d.

JohnO. Jordan

nd Patten

Cambridge:

ambridge

Univ.Press,1995),pp. 123-42,132.39

Kathryn

hittick,

Pickwick

apers

and the

Sun,

1833-1836,"

NCF

39,

3

(December 984):

328-35,

335.

Patten

has

suggested

hat he

original

illustrator's

uicide lso allowed or adical

hanges,

s it shifted he

ayout

of he

publication

o

two,

ather

han

four,

llustrationsnd

additional ext.

This

allowedDickens to

"expand

his scenes

and

amplify

is

characteriza-

tions"

Patten,

Pickwick

apers

nd the

Development

f erial

Fiction,"

ice

University

tudies

61,

1

[Winter 975]:

51-74,

64).

40

Richard

Lansdown,

ThePickwick

apers:

Something

obler han a

Novel?"

R 31

(1991):

75-91,

78.

41To

ive

ne

example

f

his

interference,"

ickens ubstituted

homas

HoodforGaskell'soriginal eferenceo Pickwick apers n theHouseholdWords ersion f

Cranford

Schor,

p.

91-2).

42

Linda K.

Hughes

and

Michael

Lund,

Textual/Sexual

Pleasure

and

Serial

Publication,"

n

Literaturen the

Marketplace,

p.

143-64,

151.

43

. N.

Feltes,

The

Moment f

ickwick,

r

heProduction

f

Commodity

Text,"

&H

10,

2

(Autumn 984):

203-17,

203.

For an

extended

iscussion

of erial

publication

ithin

heVictorian

ublishingndustry,

ee

Guinevere

L.

Griest,

Mudie's

Circulatingibrary

nd

theVictorian

ovel

Bloomington:

Indiana

Univ.

Press,

1970),

especially

Mudie's nd the

Three-Decker"

pp.

35-57)

and

"Novelists,

ovels,

nd the

Establishment"

pp. 87-119).

44Certeau,

p.

165-76.

45

Hughes ndLund,The Victorianerial Charlottesville:niv.Press of

Virginia,

991),

p.

9.

46Barthes,

.

5.

47

Bill

Bell,

Fictionn

the

Marketplace:

owards

Study

f he

Victorian

Serial,"

n

Serials nd Their

eaders,

620-1914,

d.

Robin

Myers

nd

Michael

Harris

New

Castle DE:

Oak Pinoli

ress,

1993),

pp.

125-44,

129.

48

See

chap.

28

of

ThePickwick

apers

pp.

360-90).

For a full

nalysis

of he

centrality

f

his

overflowing

hapter

o

the

novel,

ee

Patten,

The Art

of

Pickwick's

nterpolatedales,"

ELH

34,

3

(September 967):

349-66.

49Sadrin,

.

26.

50

Mark

Wormald,

note on

the text nd

illustrationsn

The Pickwick

Papers,pp.

xxx-xxxv.

51Chittick,

.

328.

52

Deborah

Wynne,

he

Sensation

Novel nd

theVictorian

amilyMaga-

zine

Houndmills,

K:

Palgrave,

001),

p.

3.

Wynne

rgues

that

Dickens n

particular

dopted

his

trategy

n

his later

ditorship

fAllthe

Year

Round

(pp.

83-97).



21/21

810


53A

Roving nglishman,"

ouseholdWords , 91

(20

December

851):

299-301;

4,

93

(3

January

852):

358-9; 4,

95

(17

January

852):

406-8;

4,

97

(24

January

852):

431-2;

4,

100

(21

February

852):

514-7;

and

7,

153

(2

April

853):

118-20.

54

Pearls from he

East,"

Household

Words

,

93

(3

January

1852):

337-41;

The PeasantsofBritish

ndia,"

HouseholdWords

,

95

(17

January

1852):

389-93;

"Three

olonial

pochs,"

HouseholdWords

,

97

(31

January

1852):

433-8;

"An ndian

Wedding,"

ousehold

Words

,

100

(21

February

1852):

505-10;

"Silk

From he

Punjaub,"

HouseholdWords

,

146

(8

Janu-

ary

1853):

388-90.

55"Needles,"

ouseholdWords

,

101

28February852):540-6;

"British

Cotton,"

ouseholdWords

,

106

3

April

852):

51^1;

"Playthings,"

ousehold

Words

,

147

(15

January

853):

430-2.

56

The

Legend

of the

Weeping

hamber,"

ouseholdWords

,

91

(20

December

Documents

The Gothic Heart of Victorian Serial Fiction