Victorian Animal Dreams: Representations of Animals in Victorian Literature and Culture (The Nineteenth Century Series)

The Victorian period witnessed the beginning of a debate on the status of animals that continues today. This volume explicitly acknowledges the way twenty-first-century deliberations about animal rights and the fact of past and prospective animal extinction haunt the discussion of the Victorians' obsession with animals. Combining close attention to historical detail with a sophisticated analytical framework, the contributors examine the various forms of human dominion over animals, including imaginative possession of animals in the realms of fiction, performance, and the visual arts, as well as physical control as manifest in hunting, killing, vivisection and zookeeping. The diverse range of topics, analyzed from a contemporary perspective, makes the volume a significant contribution to Victorian studies. The conclusion by Harriet Ritvo, the pre-eminent authority in the field of Victorian/animal studies, provides valuable insight into the burgeoning field of animal studies and points toward future studies of animals in the Victorian period. Pt. 1. Science And Sentiment. Animal Angst : Victorians Memorialize Their Pets / Teresa Mangum -- Victorian Beetlemania / Cannon Schmitt -- Killing Elephants: Pathos And Prestige In The Nineteenth Century / Nigel Rothfels -- Designs After Nature: Evolutionary Fashions, Animals, And Gender / Susan David Bernstein -- Dying Like A Dog In 'great Expectations' / Ivan Kreilkamp -- Pt. 2. Sex And Violence. Nature Red In Hoof And Paw : Domestic Animals And Violence In Victorian Art / Martin A. Danahay -- 'the Crossing O' Breeds' In 'the Mill On The Floss' / Mary Jean Corbett -- Horses And Sexual/social Dominance / Elsie B. Michie -- Pacific Harvests: Whales And Albatrosses In Nineteenth-century Markets / Anca Vlasopolos -- Pt. 3. Sin And Bestiality. 'the Mark Of The Beast': Animals As Sites Of Imperial Encounter From 'wuthering Heights To Green Mansions' / Deborah Denenholz Morse -- Beastly Criminals And Criminal Beasts : Stray Women And Stray Dogs In 'oliver Twist' / Grace Moore -- The Sins Of Sloths : The Moral Status Of Fossil Megatheria In Victorian Culture / Alan Rauch -- Tiger Tales / Heather Schell -- The Empire Bites Back: The Racialized Crocodile Of The Nineteenth Century / Mary Elizabeth Leighton, Lisa Surridge. Edited By Deborah Denenholz Morse, Martin A. Danahay. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Contents 6 List of Illustrations 8 General Editors’ Preface 10 Acknowledgments 12 Notes on Contributors 14 Introduction 18 Part I: Science and Sentiment 30 1 Animal Angst: Victorians Memorialize their Pets 32 2 Victorian Beetlemania 52 3 Killing Elephants: Pathos and Prestige in the Nineteenth Century 70 4 Designs after Nature: Evolutionary Fashions, Animals, and Gender 82 5 Dying Like a Dog in Great Expectations 98 Part II: Sex and Violence 112 6 Nature Red in Hoof and Paw: Domestic Animals and Violence in Victorian Art 114 7 “The Crossing o’ Breeds” in The Mill on the Floss 138 8 Horses and Sexual/Social Dominance 162 9 Pacific Harvests: Whales and Albatrosses in Nineteenth-Century Markets 208 Part III: Sin and Bestiality 220 10 “The Mark of the Beast”: Animals as Sites of Imperial Encounter from Wuthering Heights to Green Mansions 222 11 Beastly Criminals and Criminal Beasts: Stray Women and Stray Dogs in Oliver Twist 242 12 the Sins of Sloths: The Moral Status of Fossil Megatheria in Victorian Culture 256 13 Tiger Tales 270 14 The Empire Bites Back: The Racialized Crocodile of the Nineteenth Century 290 Afterword 312 Index 318 The Victorian period witnessed the beginning of a debate on the status of animals that continues today. This volume explicitly acknowledges the way 21st-century deliberations about animal rights and the fact of past and prospective animal extinction haunt the discussion of the Victorians' obsession with animals.