New Media and the Rise of the Popular Woman Writer, 1832-1860

Explores the link between revolutionary change in the Victorian world of print and women's entry into the field of mass-market publishingThis book highlights the integral relationship between the rise of the popular woman writer and the expansion and diversification of newspaper, book and periodical print media during a period of revolutionary change, 1832 1860. It includes discussion of canonical women writers such as Felicia Hemans, Charlotte Bronte and George Eliot, as well as lesser-known figures such as Eliza Cook and Frances Brown. It also examines the ways women readers actively responded to a robust popular print culture by creating scrapbooks and engaging in forms of celebrity worship. Easley analyses the ways Victorian women s participation in popular print culture anticipates our own engagement with new media in the twenty-first century.