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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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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.
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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
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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
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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-
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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
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
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796
Victorianerial iction
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
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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
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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,
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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"
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800
Victorianerial iction
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
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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-
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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-
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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.
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19/21
808
Victorianerial iction
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.
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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).
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810
Victorianerial iction
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
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