Catholic Sensationalism and Victorian Literature

Catholic Sensationalism and Victorian Literature offers a highly original examination of Victorian sensationalism through the exploration of popular literary representations of Roman Catholicism, that exotic, corrupt religious Other which is inscribed as the implacable anti-English enemy. The book demonstrates how new understandings of cultural tensions of the period are gained through the association of Roman Catholicism with secular fears of crime, sex and violence, rather than with theological ‘excesses’ and doctrinal ‘superstitions’.

Maureen Moran is Professor of English Literature at Brunel University and a member of the Advisory Committee for the national English Subject Centre, and of the Executive Committee of the English Association.