Overview
In this 1874 novella by Wilkie Collins, the celebrated British writer of sensation fiction tells the tale of two brothers sentenced to be executed for having committed a murder that never occurred, and of the energetic Naomi Colebrook’s efforts to ferret out the truth and save the two innocents. As editor Anna Clark observes, Collins’s work is both a compelling legal sensation thriller and an important transatlantic commentary on American life. Along with the text itself and an illuminating introduction, Clark provides a range of background materials—including documents from the real-life murder trial that inspired the novella—in order to set the work in its historical context.
Full Product Details
Author: Wilkie Collins ,
Anna Clark
Publisher: Broadview Press Ltd
Imprint: Broadview Press Ltd
Dimensions:
Width: 14.00cm
, Height: 0.70cm
, Length: 21.60cm
Weight: 0.170kg
ISBN: 9781554814336
ISBN 10: 1554814332
Pages: 120
Publication Date: 02 December 2019
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Available To Order
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Reviews
This is a timely re-examination of Wilkie Collins's The Dead Alive. Anna Clark has situated Collins's novella within its nineteenth-century context in terms of the Boorn murder trial, which inspired its plot, and other contemporary materials, including reviews and illustrations. The introduction provides a clear overview of Collins's work, as well as of the text under consideration, which makes this volume useful for both scholars and students. This is a welcome and exciting addition to Broadview's indispensable Victorian literature series. - Joanne Ella Parsons, Falmouth University Wilkie Collins's The Dead Alive is an incredibly teachable novella, and Anna Clark's introduction helpfully situates it within a range of historical contexts. This little-known text-advertised as Collins's 'first American story' and based on an actual 1819 Vermont trial-is distinct within Collins's oeuvre. The bold Naomi Colebrook prefigures Collins's detective-heroine Valeria Woodville in The Law and the Lady but is also depicted as a uniquely American heroine. The contextual material that Clark provides, including reviews and reports of the real-life trial, position The Dead Alive as a significant experiment in transatlantic, legal, and sensational writing. - Tara MacDonald, University of Idaho
“This is a timely re-examination of Wilkie Collins’s The Dead Alive. Anna Clark has situated Collins’s novella within its nineteenth-century context in terms of the Boorn murder trial, which inspired its plot, and other contemporary materials, including reviews and illustrations. The introduction provides a clear overview of Collins’s work, as well as of the text under consideration, which makes this volume useful for both scholars and students. This is a welcome and exciting addition to Broadview’s indispensable Victorian literature series.” — Joanne Ella Parsons, Falmouth University “Wilkie Collins’s The Dead Alive is an incredibly teachable novella, and Anna Clark’s introduction helpfully situates it within a range of historical contexts. This little-known text—advertised as Collins’s ‘first American story’ and based on an actual 1819 Vermont trial—is distinct within Collins’s oeuvre. The bold Naomi Colebrook prefigures Collins’s detective-heroine Valeria Woodville in The Law and the Lady but is also depicted as a uniquely American heroine. The contextual material that Clark provides, including reviews and reports of the real-life trial, position The Dead Alive as a significant experiment in transatlantic, legal, and sensational writing.” — Tara MacDonald, University of Idaho
This is a timely re-examination of Wilkie Collins's The Dead Alive. Anna Clark has situated Collins's novella within its nineteenth-century context in terms of the Boorn murder trial, which inspired its plot, and other contemporary materials, including reviews and illustrations. The introduction provides a clear overview of Collins's work, as well as of the text under consideration, which makes this volume useful for both scholars and students. This is a welcome and exciting addition to Broadview's indispensable Victorian literature series. -- Joanne Ella Parsons, Falmouth University Wilkie Collins's The Dead Alive is an incredibly teachable novella, and Anna Clark's introduction helpfully situates it within a range of historical contexts. This little-known text--advertised as Collins's 'first American story' and based on an actual 1819 Vermont trial--is distinct within Collins's oeuvre. The bold Naomi Colebrook prefigures Collins's detective-heroine Valeria Woodville in The Law and the Lady but is also depicted as a uniquely American heroine. The contextual material that Clark provides, including reviews and reports of the real-life trial, position The Dead Alive as a significant experiment in transatlantic, legal, and sensational writing. -- Tara MacDonald, University of Idaho
Author Information
Anna Clark, formerly a professor at Iona College in New Rochelle, New York, now teaches at The Bishop’s School in San Diego.
