ABSTRACT
In the first half of the nineteenth century, a number of social, cultural, and economic developments significantly altered how European literature was produced and consumed. This chapter begins by providing a detailed account of the various factors that brought about a commercialisation of fiction in the period between 1830 and 1850, explaining how these changes deeply influenced the form and content of the European novel. Having outlined this context, the chapter traces the rise of one representative popular sub-genre: the sensation novel. Especially prevalent in the 1860s, this type of fiction brought the outrageous plot turns and exciting themes of cheap popular magazine fiction into the pages of middle-class novels. Critics usually view sensation fiction as a peculiarly British phenomenon, related to a broader mania for all things sensational. This chapter, however, challenges this assumption by considering the roots of sensation fiction in forms such as the city mystery novel, which originated with Eugène Sue in France and spread throughout Europe. It also demonstrates how a fascination with the sensational crossed into other cultures by tracing the huge popularity of the work of sensation novelists in translation.
