Moulding the Female Body in Victorian Fairy Tales and Sensation Novels

This insightful literary analysis examines how Victorian fairy tales and sensation novels shaped and constrained female identity through bodily representation. Laurence Talairach-Vielmas masterfully traces the tension between fantasy and reality across works by George MacDonald, Lewis Carroll, and Wilkie Collins, revealing how these authors developed a unique realism that challenged period norms. The book demonstrates how seemingly escapist genres actually exposed the physical and social limitations placed on women, making nineteenth-century literature a battleground for defining femininity.

What distinguishes this scholarly work is its compelling juxtaposition of children's literature with adult sensational fiction, showing how both genres grappled with the same cultural anxieties about female agency. Readers interested in gender studies and Victorian culture will find particularly valuable insights into how Carroll's Alice and Braddon's heroines alike navigated restrictive social expectations through their physical journeys. The analysis illuminates why these enduring stories continue to resonate, revealing the profound cultural work performed by popular nineteenth-century narratives in moulding—and resisting—idealized womanhood.