The Routledge Companion to Sensation Fiction
Abstract deadline: May 15, 2025
Essay deadline: September 8, 2025
The editors of The Routledge Companion to Sensation Fiction are seeking chapters that discuss approaches to teaching sensation fiction. Since the initial recovery of sensation novels in the 1970s, scholarship on this popular genre has moved steadily from the margins of Victorian Studies to become an important mainstay of current critical investigation. While the original impetus for recovery was feminist literary criticism’s interest in marginalised women writers and the influence of cultural studies’ focus on popular forms, it soon became clear that the sensation novel offered much more to scholars and students alike. The volume aims to showcase the current rich research shaping the field of sensation fiction. Aimed at scholars, undergraduate and postgraduate students alike, we seek to capture the new and exciting directions of recent years: for example, the rise of disability studies, Critical Race Theory, queer studies, and digital scholarship. Offering more than a series of introductory survey essays, our companion brings together original research on sensation fiction.
The companion is under contract with Routledge and edited by Anne-Marie Beller and Tara MacDonald. The volume is organized into five sections: Part 1: Rethinking Genre and Reading Practices; Part 2: Race, Colonialism, and the Global Context; Part 3: Gender and Sexuality; Part 4: Medicine, Mind, and the Body; Part 5: Teaching Sensation Fiction.
We are only seeking chapters on pedagogy as all other sections are complete. We welcome contributions on different aspects of teaching sensation fiction to university students and are especially interested in chapters that consider the implications of teaching this genre in different cultural contexts or through new and innovative approaches.
Interested authors should submit a 250 word abstract to both editors at a.m.beller@lboro.ac.uk and tmacdonald@uidaho.edu by May 15, 2025, with final essays to be submitted by September 8, 2025. Inquiries are also very welcome.