ABSTRACT
Historical surveys of literature always impose a rather blunt cut-off point. The preceding chapters have attempted to elaborate on some of the most significant movements and influences between 1800 and 1830, and at this juncture it seems appropriate to look ahead briefly to the progress of short fiction over the next decade. The 1830s have consistently resisted simple assessment by historians of literature. These interregnum years are habitually viewed as an uneasy bridge between the Romantics and the Victorians, and the decade is characterised by a slew of newly-minted fictional genres—the silver-fork novel, the Newgate novel, the military-adventure novel, the social-problem novel—some of which continued to develop through the remainder of the nineteenth century and some of which remained period-specific. The 1830s witnessed the passing of the old guard, with the death of Walter Scott in 1832, and the apprentice years of many of the great Victorian novelists, including Dickens and Thackeray. For short fiction, in broad terms, the watchword during the 1830s was expansion. Tales and stories, along with fiction in general, went through a phase of increased production and diversification, as the industry geared up for the comparatively vast publishing runs and new titles of the Victorian period. With both the novel and short fiction in flux, the periodical press became an increasingly important outlet. Meanwhile, the twin strains of moral–didactic fiction and traditional literature continued to help shape the history of short fiction.
