Humour Across Victoriana (Humor in Literature and Culture)

Humour Across Victoriana investigates the varying facets of ubiquitous humour in Victorian society by focusing on the more marginal and less celebrated aspects of cultural production. Exploring the diverse dimensions of humour in Victorian society, beyond the celebrated works of prominent humourists like Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray, this volume emphasises the humour found in the peripheral writings of luminaries such as Oscar Wilde, Matthew Arnold, and Thomas Hardy. It also highlights the contributions of female authors, including Catherine Gore, Margaret Oliphant, and Christina Rossetti, who generated humour that transcended patriarchal constraints. The volume provides insights into anecdotal humour across all sectors of Victorian social life, discerns humour under the distorting lens of the increasingly fashionable microscope, and examines how female stage performers navigated oppressive censorship and how authors of Anglo-Indian cookbooks addressed complex racial-political issues. By celebrating a wide spectrum of humour, Humour Across Victoriana strives to contribute towards revising and re-envisaging the concept of humour in the Victorian era and beyond. Elucidating aspects of Victorian humour seldom scrutinised in this historical context, Humour Across Victoriana is an enlightening volume for graduate and advanced undergraduate students, as well as for established scholars of Victorian studies.