Victorian Print Culture, Journalism and the Novel

A number of studies have challenged the divide between Victorian literature and journalism in recent years by rethinking the relationship between enduring literary genres such as the novel and ephemeral forms of print including newspapers and magazines. This essay identifies the key ways in which studies in print culture and book history have revised our understanding of the 19th-century literary marketplace by identifying a high degree of interaction between the era's literature and journalism. The essay begins with an introduction to print culture as a field of research that has challenged the narrow literary focus of Victorian studies by expanding its borders to include the eclectic assortment of journalistic writing representative of the 19th century. It then considers how the development of digital archives has improved access to the full range of reading materials once available to audiences. The essay concludes with an assessment of how attention to the entire spectrum of print consumed by the reading public has inspired a critical revaluation of the relationship between journalism and the Victorian novel.