Introduction: Neo-Victorian Cannibalism

Abstract

This book investigates how different neo-Victorian novels negotiate the conflicting desires of communion and identity-formation. The neo-Victorian texts chosen include earlier works in the genre and relatively recent ones and are written by writers of different nationalities. Some of the texts have received ample academic attention while others have been less examined. The chapters in the book are divided in order to focus on thematic pairings of Victorian and contemporary texts (and authors-as-texts). The pairings demonstrate the cannibalism of a specific element of the Victorian, for example, author, text and feature of its history, by the neo-Victorian as well as illustrating and elucidating the cannibalistic nature of the genre.