Thomas Boyle (1)

The thesis of "Black Swine in the Sewers of Hampstead: Beneath the Surface of Victorian Sensationalism," by Thomas Boyle, is that the advent of both the steam engine train and the telegraph in the early 1800s in England led to a sharp increase (and lowered costs) of newspapers in that country, which in turn led to an increase in reporting of “sensational” crimes and newsworthy events. As the century progressed, the Victorian sense of smugness and “right thinking” was belied by what an increasingly literate public read in these newspapers, in terms of sexuality and criminal behaviours; of course, with more newspapers to choose from and with the more rapid dissemination of news and events, the papers began competing for readership and one way to successfully do that was to publish the most salacious and sensational stories the reporters could find. Within about a decade of these changes in the public sphere, that sensationalism started appearing in the form of novels by writers such as Wilkie Collins, Mary Elizabeth Braddon (whose “Lady Audley’s Secret” is often considered the first of these “sensational novels”) and Charles Dickens, all of which led to what Mr. Boyle describes as a new era of skepticism and experimentation, permanently putting the idealized version of Victorian life to heel. I found this book interesting, and loved that it has footnotes and a bibliography, always important in works of historical interpretation, I think. On the other hand, the author tends to insert his own study habits and travels in research rather too frequently into the narrative and, given that it was published in 1989 (some 30 years ago as I write this review), his constant allusions to contemporary American fiction (largely in the form of television shows), fall somewhat flat. Still, an interesting study into a fascinating time; recommended.… (meer)