BleakChesneyWold

      William Harrison Ainsworth  (1805-1882)  William Harrison Ainsworth  by Daniel Maclise ( died 1870) donated to the National Portrait Gallery in 1949 : In public domain, courtesy of Wikipedia.  This post originally appeared in my blog  A Burnt Ship  in November 2020. Thought worth sharing here as essentially a look at a 19th century novelist's view of the Guy Fawkes. Professor James Sharpe, referred to below, sadly passed away in February 2024.  William Harrison Ainsworth  1805-1882 was the son of a Manchester solicitor and moved to London in 1824 to study law. As well as being a poet , magazine editor and journalist,  Ainsworth belonged to a crop of Victorian novelists who were widely read during during the middle of the 19th century but fell from favour, being  largely neglected by the end of his life. 'Guy Fawkes or The Gunpowder Treason -An Historical Romance'  appeared by instalments, included in 'Bentley's ...

       Sensation Novel Transformed into a Social Concern Romance             'The New Magdalene' , serialised in 1872-1873, then as a novel in 1873, is certainly an interesting and surprisingly difficult  work: Arguably contains three quite diverse sections under one title. In the 21st century Wilkie Collins ( 1824- 1889) is largely known for 'The Woman in White' ( published in 1860) and 'The Moonstone' ( 1868). The former is a major work in the development of the Victorian 'sensation novel', the latter a key player in the rise of the detective novel. It is hard to imagine 'The New Magdalene' being dramatised for modern television, or film, though a stage version did appear shortly after its publication.  This novel deals with plight of a 'fallen woman' , a social usurper, who is eventually redeemed by the love of a good Christian gentleman, but remained displaced by wider society. They both go into voluntary exile. Collin...