Chemical Crimes : Science and Poison in Victorian Crime Fiction

In __Chemical Crimes: Science and Poison in Victorian Crime Fiction__, Cheryl Blake Price delves into the dark world of Victorian criminality to examine how poison allowed authors to disrupt gender boundaries, genre, and the professionalization of science. Tracing the role of the chemical crime through the works of Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Ellen Wood, Edward Bulwer Lytton, L. T. Meade, Charles Warren Adams, and Wilkie Collins, Price argues that poison this intervention not only provided a useful tool for authors to challenge the growing power of science but also that its fluid nature and ability to mix, mingle, and transcend boundaries made it ideal for generic experimentation. From the Newgate and Silver Fork novels of the 1830s to the emergent genres of science and detective fiction of the 1890s, Price advocates for the classification of a new type of poisoner, one who combined crime with methodical scientific know-how: the chemical criminal. __Chemical Crimes__ shows how authors used the subversiveness of chemical crimes to challenge the supposed disciplinary force of forensic detection and suggests that generic developments were inspired as much by criminal scientific innovation as they were by the rise of the detective–scientist. By focusing on chemical crime’s appearance at significant moments, this book traces how reactions to Victorian science inspired change in nineteenth-century crime fiction. Half Title Page 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 CONTENTS 6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 8 INTRODUCTION: THE VICTORIAN CHEMICAL CRIMINAL 10 MOVING FROM DETECTIVE-SCIENTIST TO SCIENTIFIC CRIMINAL 22 A THEORY OF POISON 26 “ARSENICAL LITERATURE” AND LITERARY INNOVATION 30 CHAPTER 1: “THE SCIENCE OF MURDER”: Educating the Female Chemical Criminal in L. E. L.'s Ethel Churchill and Bulwer's Lucretia 37 THE BODY OF THE POISONED WOMAN; OR, WHAT LETITIA KNEW 37 SILVER FORK NOVELS AS CRIME FICTION 42 ETHEL CHURCHILL 45 LUCRETIA; OR, THE CHILDREN OF NIGHT 57 LUCRETIA AND THE NEWGATE NOVEL 69 THE VICTIMS OF THE POISONING WOMAN; OR, WHAT SARAH LEARNED 73 CHAPTER 2: MEDICAL BLUEBEARDS: Gothic Medicine and the Poisoning Doctor in the Fiction of Ellen Wood 77 MEDICAL BLUEBEARDS 81 “A DRAUGHT OF POISON”: WOOD’S EARLY FICTION AND THE BELANY CASE 85 GOTHIC VILLAINS: “MR. CASTONEL” 91 GOTHIC HEROINES: LORD OAKBURN’S DAUGHTERS 98 THE SMETHURST CASE 102 CURIOSITY SAVES 105 CHEMICALIZED BODIES AND CRIMINAL INTENT 112 POISON, GUILT, AND CRIMINAL INTENT 116 UNRULY BODIES AND FORENSIC FAILURE IN THE NOTTING HILL MYSTERY 121 CRIMINAL INTENT AND NARRATIVE SILENCE 130 HOCUS-POCUS 135 THE UNRULY BODIES OF THE MOONSTONE 139 FORENSIC SCIENCE AND THE CHEMICALIZED CRIMINAL: THE EXPERIMENT 143 L. T. MEADE’S FEMALE MAD SCIENTISTS 148 SENSATIONAL FEMALE CHEMICAL CRIMINALS 153 BIRTH OF THE FEMALE MAD SCIENTIST 158 OUTSIDE THE MAINSTREAM: FEMALE SCIENCE 167 FEMALE SCIENCE DISRUPTING DETECTION 172 THE UBIQUITY OF SCIENCE: OTHERING THE BODY 177 THE BODY OF THE POISONED SCIENTIST; OR, WHAT KOLUCHY KNOWS 181 AFTERWORD 183 BIBLIOGRAPHY 188 INDEX 200 In 'Chemical Crimes: Science and Poison in Victorian Crime Fiction', Cheryl Blake Price delves into the dark world of Victorian criminality to examine how poison allowed authors to disrupt gender boundaries, genre, and the professionalization of science. Tracing the role of the chemical crime through the works of Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Ellen Wood, Edward Bulwer Lytton, L. T. Meade, Charles Warren Adams, and Wilkie Collins, Price argues that poison this intervention not only provided a useful tool for authors to challenge the growing power of science but also that its fluid nature and ability to mix, mingle, and transcend boundaries made it ideal for generic experimentation.0From the Newgate and Silver Fork novels of the 1830s to the emergent genres of science and detective fiction of the 1890s, Price advocates for the classification of a new type of poisoner, one who combined crime with methodical scientific know-how: the chemical criminal. Chemical Crimes shows how authors used the subversiveness of chemical crimes to challenge the supposed disciplinary force of forensic detection and suggests that generic developments were inspired as much by criminal scientific innovation as they were by the rise of the detective-scientist. By focusing on chemical crime's appearance at significant moments, this book traces how reactions to Victorian science inspired change in nineteenth-century crime fiction In Chemical Crimes: Science and Poison in Victorian CrimeFiction, Cheryl Blake Price delves into the dark world ofVictorian criminality to examine how poison allowed authors todisrupt gender boundaries, genre, and the professionalization ofscience. Tracing the role of the chemical crime through the worksof Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Ellen Wood, Edward Bulwer Lytton, L.T. Meade, Charles Warren Adams, and Wilkie Collins, Price arguesthat poison this intervention not only provided a useful tool forauthors to challenge the growing power of science but also that itsfluid nature and ability to mix, mingle, and transcend boundariesmade it ideal for generic experimentation. From the Newgate andSilver Fork novels of the 1830s to the emergent genres of scienceand detective fiction of the 1890s, Price advocates for theclassification of a new type of poisoner, one who combined crimewith methodical scientific know-how: the chemical criminal.Chemical Crimes shows how authors used the subversivenessof chemical crimes to challenge the supposed disciplinary force offorensic detection and suggests that generic developments wereinspired as much by criminal scientific innovation as they were bythe rise of the detective-scientist. By focusing on chemicalcrime's appearance at significant moments, this book traces howreactions to Victorian science inspired change innineteenth-century crime fiction "An exploration of poison's transformation into chemical crime in the nineteenth century and impact on crime fiction and Victorian perceptions of science. Examines the role of scientific criminals in the works of Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Ellen Wood, Edward Bulwer Lytton, L.T. Meade, Charles Warren Adams, and Wilkie Collins"-- Provided by publisher