Epilogue

Abstract

Beginning with A. S. Byatt’s Possession of 1990, Ayres suggests that, despite the plethora of critical attention already paid to Byatt, there is more scholarship that can be pursued to unearth the literary gems of her work and others who have created texts set in the nineteenth century. Neo-Victorianism is a relatively new field of study in academe. In both the creation of neo-Victorian texts and criticism of those texts, it is an evolving genre and discipline. There is much more that can be studied about adaptations of works by and biofictions of individual writers. Ayres suggests ideas about Wilkie Collins, George Eliot, Frances Trollope, Anthony Trollope, and Beatrix Potter. After discussing Potter’s work with children’s literature, Ayres proposes more analysis might be made of current adaptations of Victorian work for and about children. Whether for children or adults, more study can be made on heroes, heroines, villains, criminals, and crime in general. Postcolonial and multicultural approaches would also offer invaluable insights. Besides musicals, the theatre and other dramatisations beg for critical attention. Then there are many groups that ought to be explored as to their (mis)representations in Victorian and then their reconstruction in neo-Victorianism, such as Jews, Muslims, other non-Christian adherents, and those distinguished by handicaps and deformities. Therefore, the volume ends with a solicitation for further scholarly considerations of neo-Victorianism.