Medium as a Character of Victorian Literature in Britain in 1860- 1890s

Authors

  • Эльнара Теймуровна Ахмедова кафедра истории зарубежной литературы филологического факультета Московского государственного университета им. Ломоносова

Abstract

Aelnara T. Akhmedova (Moscow, Russian Federation)

The article is devoted to the emergence of a new character in Victorian literature – a medium. The medium was a key figure of Spiritism, popular in the XIX century. In the 1850-1860s it was formed the canonical image of the medium in British periodicals and literature. The article analyzes the characters-mediums in the poetry of R. Browning, novels by E. BulwerLytton and F. Merriet – authors, representing the entire spectrum of spiritualism changes (rejection, skepticism and “research” of interest; a belief in the possibility of communicating with the spirits).

Key words: medium, English literature, Victorianism, spiritualism, XIX century, Great Britain.

Author Biography

Эльнара Теймуровна Ахмедова, кафедра истории зарубежной литературы филологического факультета Московского государственного университета им. Ломоносова

Aelnara T. Akhmedova – post-graduate student of philology faculty, history of foreign literature dpt. Moscow State University Of M.V. Lomonosov. Moscow, Russian Federation.

References

Browning, R. Mr. Sludge, the Medium // Browning, R. The Complete Poetic and Dramatic Works. [Электронный ресурс]. URL: http://www.gutenberg.org/ files/50954/50954-h/50954-h.htm (дата обращения: 19.10.2016). Р. 397 – 412.

Bulwer-Lytton, E. A Strange Story. [Электронный ресурс]. URL: http://www. gutenberg.org/files/7701/7701-h/7701-h.htm (дата обращения: 19.10.2016).

Dyson, E. W. ‘Gentleman Mountebanks’ and Spiritualists: Legal, Stage and Media Contest Between Magicians and Spirit Mediums in the United States and England // Contou T., Wilburn S. (eds). The Ashgate Research Companion to Nineteenth-Century Spiritualism and the Occult. Farnham, 2012. 436 p.

Franklin, J. J. The Evolution of Occult Spirituality in Victorian England and the Representative Case of Edward Bulwer-Lytton // Contou T., Wilburn S. (eds). The Ashgate Research Companion to Nineteenth-Century Spiritualism and the Occult. Farnham, 2012. 436 p.

Galvan, J. The Sympathetic Medium: Feminine Channeling, the Occult, and Communication Technologies, 1859-1919. Ithaca and London, 2010. 216 p.

Goldfarb, R. M., Goldfarb, C. R. Spiritualism and Nineteenth-century Letters. Rutherford, N.J., 1978. 208 p.

Hutchinson, J. Important Testimony to the Facts // Spiritual Magazine. 1861. Vol. 2. February. P. 89 – 90.

Marryat, F., Depledge, G. The Dead Man’s Message: An Occult Romance. Brighton, 2009. 149 p.

«Mysticism and Madness»; or, Popular Journalism versus Spiritualism // The Two Worlds. 1888.Vol. 2. 15 June. P. 409 – 410.

Owen, A. The Darkened Room: Women, Power and Spiritualism in Late Victorian England. Chicago, IL, 1989. 314 p.

How to Cite

Ахмедова, Э. Т. (2017). Medium as a Character of Victorian Literature in Britain in 1860- 1890s. Proceedings of Southern Federal University. Philology, (1), 22–29. Retrieved from https://philol-journal.sfedu.ru/index.php/sfuphilol/article/view/987

Issue

Section

LITERATURE STUDY