From Dickens to Dracula
Subtitle: Gothic, economics, and Victorian fiction
By: by Gail Turley Houston.
Series: Cambridge studies in nineteenth-century literature and culture
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Cambridge, UK; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 188
Subjects: Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870 -- Knowledge -- Economics; Stoker, Bram, 1847-1912; English fiction -- 19th century -- History and criticism; Economics in literature; Economics and literature -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century; Financial crises -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century; Horror tales, English -- History and criticism; Gothic revival (Literature) -- Great Britain; Dracula, Count (Fictitious character); Financial crises in literature; Money in literature
Description: Ranging from the panoramic novels of Dickens to the horror of Dracula, Gail Turley Houston examines the ways in which the language and imagery of economics, commerce, and particularly of banking are transformed in Victorian Gothic fiction, and traces literary and uncanny elements in economic writings of the period. Houston shows how banking crises were often linked with ghosts or inexplicable non-human forces and financial panic was figured through Gothic or supernatural means. In Little Dorrit and Villette characters are literally haunted by money, while the unnameable intimations of Dracula and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are represented alongside realist economic concerns. Houston pays particular attention to the term "panic" as it moved between its double uses as a banking term and a defining emotion in sensational and Gothic fiction. This stimulating interdisciplinary book reveals that the worlds of Victorian economics and Gothic fiction, seemingly separate, actually complemented and enriched each other.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p.  ) and index.