With over 900 biographical entries, more than 600 novels synopsized, and a wealth of background material on the publishers, reviewers and readers of the age the Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction is the fullest account of the period's fiction ever published. Now in a second edition, the book has been revised and a generous selection of images have been chosen to illustrate various aspects of Victorian publishing, writing, and reading life. Organised alphabetically, the information provided will be a boon to students, researchers and all lovers of reading. The entries, though concise, meet the high standards demanded by modern scholarship. The writing - marked by Sutherland's characteristic combination of flair, clarity and erudition - is of such a high standard that the book is a joy to read, as well as a definitive work of reference.

ジョン・サザーランドの手による本書は、単なる辞書の枠を超えた、ヴィクトリア朝という壮大な「知の迷宮」への招待状です。サザーランドの洗練された文体は、無機質な事実の羅列に血肉を与え、物語が社会を動かした激動の時代の熱狂を鮮やかに蘇らせます。 文学の黄金時代を俯瞰するこの一冊は、名作の背後に隠された出版文化の力学や、作家たちの情熱を余すところなく掬い上げています。個々の項目を紐解くたびに、読者は当時の英国社会の複雑な地層に触れ、物語の真の生命力を再発見するでしょう。知的な冒険の始まりを告げる、至高の羅針盤と呼ぶにふさわしい名著です。