Masculinity, Crime and Self-Defence in Victorian Literature (Crime Files)

✍ Scribed by Emelyne Godfrey

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 214
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book considers crime fighting from the perspective of the civilian city-goer, from the mid-Victorian garotting panics to 1914. It charts the shift from the use of 'body armour' to the adoption of exotic martial arts through the works of popular playwrights and novelists, examining changing ideals of urban, middle-class heroism.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 8
List of Figures......Page 10
Acknowledgments......Page 12
Note on the Text and Abbreviations......Page 13
Part I: The Garotting Farce: Armoured Masculinity and its Limits: 1851–67......Page 30
The 'garotta' and the garotte......Page 32
Thuggee......Page 37
Contagion of crime......Page 41
Garotters and their prey......Page 46
'A danger to their owners'......Page 54
Urban heroes?......Page 65
Part II: Anthony Trollope: Aggression Punished and Rewarded: 1867–87......Page 72
Fighting for the franchise......Page 74
The duel......Page 81
Thrill of the chase: masculinities at play......Page 90
Streetwise hero saves government minister......Page 96
Phineas returned: not quite back in the saddle?......Page 107
The murderous life-preserver......Page 111
Leaps in the dark......Page 120
Part III: Physical Flamboyance in the Holmes Canon: 1887–1914......Page 126
Obstructing the flow of violence......Page 128
Snakes in the grass......Page 129
'Deep, savage lines' and 'wicked-looking revolvers'......Page 132
'A straight left'......Page 141
The adventure of the mystery of 'Bar[t]itsu'......Page 144
Exploring the 'criminal jungle'......Page 152
Sadakazu Uyenishi: 'jump into space'......Page 160
Jujitsu, abroad and beyond......Page 169
Notes......Page 173
Bibliography......Page 188
Index......Page 207