This dissertation examines representations of deep time in nineteenth-century British novels in order to argue that these texts help carve a path for our contemporary definitions of deep time and the Anthropocene. Examining fiction by Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, H. Rider Haggard, H. G. Wells, and Joseph Conrad, I suggest that these novels participate in the secularization of deep time by transforming the concept of vast spiritual time that had been in use earlier in the nineteenth century into a scientifically-informed model that anticipates our current understandings of deep time. While the concept of geological time emerged in the late-eighteenth century and became widely recognized in the nineteenth, the phrase “deep time” originates in nineteenth-century literature when Thomas Carlyle first used it in a non-scientific context. By studying a wide range of fiction, I demonstrate how nineteenth-century authors employed innovative narrative strategies to convey these potentially inconceivable timescales in non-numerical terms, and thereby make them more accessible to human comprehension. I also challenge conventional distinctions between literary realism and popular romance in the period by analyzing the complementary ways in which both genres of fiction engage with vast temporal scales in their narratives. I develop my argument by examining how these novels use a model of what I call “folding time” to incorporate remote time periods into their texts. Departing from the novel’s linear narrative structure to bring distant historical moments into direct contact with one another, folding time situates human activity in relation to vast pre-and-post-human periods and in doing so acknowledges an age of humans within deep time; in this sense, these novels articulate an early concept of the Anthropocene. By including deep time in the novel’s traditionally individual and familial framework, these authors simultaneously expand the novel’s temporal scope and humanize vast scientific timescales. Further, as these novels illustrate characters’ psychological responses to overwhelming scientific timescales, they reposition deep time in relation to private temporal experience. This study employs an interdisciplinary approach to acknowledge the mutually reciprocal relationship between science and literature in the nineteenth century, and draws on temporality studies, history of science theory, and literary criticism to situate its argument in relation to current critical discussions. I also consider the work of scientists such as Charles Lyell, Charles Darwin, and William Thomson in order to contextualize my novels’ scientific references. By studying nineteenth-century British novels in relation to scientific temporalities, this dissertation recovers an overlooked component of the history of deep time that has had significant and lasting cultural influence given the enduring popularity and wide readership of these texts.

This thesis establishes a biographical and critical context pertaining to the life and work of the nineteenth-century Puerto Rican author Alejandro Tapia y Rivera (1826-1882), and presents a proposed translation of his final novel, Póstumo el envirginiado o la historia de un hombre que se coló en el cuerpo de una mujer (1882). In a discussion of Tapia’s life and work, I highlight important historical factors for comprehending the text’s and Tapia’s relatively obscure status. Then I turn to the text itself to analyze key themes and narrative techniques, referring to literary scholars of Póstumo in order to provide a general interpretive frame work for contemporary readers of the text in translation. Next, I address the functions and metaphors of translation in the novel, and how these relate to discussions in translation theory around the metaphorics of fidelity, gender, and cosmopolitanism, before finally presenting my translation of the novel itself.

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This thesis is a transatlantic examination of self-representational strategies in factory women's poetry from circa 1848-1882, highlighting in particular how the medium of the working-class periodical enabled these socially marginal poets to subjectively engage with and reconfigure dominant typologies of class and gender within nineteenth-century poetics. The first chapter explores how working-class women were depicted in middle-class social-reform literature and working-class men's poetry. It argues that factory women were circumscribed into roles of social villainy or victimage in popular bourgeois reform texts by authors such as Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Caroline Norton, and were cast as idealized domestic figures in working-class men's poetry in the mid-nineteenth century. The remaining three chapters examine the poetry of Manchester dye-worker Fanny Forrester, Scottish weaver Ellen Johnston, and Lowell mill-girl Lucy Larcom as case-studies of factory women's poetics in mid-nineteenth century writing. Chapter Two discusses the life and work of Fanny Forrester in Ben Brierley's Journal, and considers how Forrester's invocation of the pastoral genre opens new opportunities for urban, factory women to engage with ideologies of domestic femininity within a destabilized urban cityscape. Chapter Three considers the work of Ellen Johnston, “The Factory Girl” whose numerous poems in The People's Journal and the Penny Post cross genres, dialects, and themes. This chapter claims that Johnston's poetry divides class and gender identity depending on her intended audience—a division exemplified, respectively, by her nationalistic poetry and her sentimental correspondence poetry. Chapter Four explores the work of Lucy Larcom, whose contributions to The Lowell Offering and her novel-poem An Idyl of Work harness the language and philosophy of Evangelical Christianity to validate women's wage-labor as socially and religiously appropriate. Ultimately, this thesis contends that nineteenth-century factory women's poetry from Britain and America embodies the tensions surrounding the “factory girl” identity, and offers unique aesthetic and representational strategies of negotiating women's factory labor.

This dissertation examines the place of Hellenism in nineteenth-century literature as a background to my discussion of Algernon Charles Swinburne’s poetic treatment of Apollo, the Greek god of poetry and of the sun. My point of departure is the common view that sees the Victorians’ fascination with Hellenism as representing a collective sense of dissatisfaction with Christian culture, its politics, and morality. Raised High Anglican, Swinburne was an avid and devoted believer throughout his early life. However, a spiritual crisis which he experienced during his years in Oxford in the late 1850s caused him to grow extremely critical of Christianity and eventually forsake his faith by his mid-twenties. Yet Swinburne’s rejection of Christianity did not result in his rejection of spirituality. And indeed, throughout his poetic career, Swinburne searches for alternative deities that would replace the Christian God. One such deity is Apollo, who becomes a pivotal figure in Swinburne poetry starting with the 1878 publication of Poems and Ballads and in the collections that follow. Focusing on seven major poems written during a period of almost three decades, I show how Apollo serves as the main deity in an emerging Swinburnean mythology. Swinburne’s Apollonian myth, I show, consists of three stages: the invocation and conceptualization of Apollo as a new god by manipulating Biblical and Classical notions of divinity; the formation of a unique Apollonian theology; and the shift toward a nihilistic agnostic vision of spirituality. Each stage, I argue, presents the development of Swinburne’s thought, as well as his deep engagement with nineteenth-century debates about religion, mythography, and the reformative function of poetry. As such, my dissertation has two main purposes: first, expanding the scope of Swinburne scholarship by providing a new thematic context for his later poetry; and second, reclaiming Swinburne’s place in nineteenth-century intellectual history by showing his contribution and involvement in discussions about some of the period’s most central issues.

<p><i>She Will Be: Literary Authorship and the Coming Woman in the Postbellum United States </i>argues that postbellum women writers deployed the figure of the Coming Woman, an archetype for the nation’s improved female future, to articulate expanded sociopolitical opportunities for women, interrogate prevailing standards of literary art, and validate their own literary pursuits. During the final decades of the nineteenth century, the American reading public became increasingly fascinated with identifying who the Coming Woman would be, what qualities she would possess, and how her arrival would alter the nation’s future. Such questions flooded US print culture in the decades between 1865 and 1900, demonstrating that the Coming Woman not only occupied a space between the antebellum True Woman and fin de siècle New Woman but also that she was a major feminine archetype in her own right.</p><p><br></p><p>Even so, existing scholarship on the Coming Woman tends either to identify the Coming Woman anachronistically as an early iteration of the New Woman or, when naming her directly, to overlook her complex function as both a harbinger and manifestation of manifold sociopolitical changes. These limited examinations elide the Coming Woman’s ubiquitous influence on postbellum literary culture, particularly in terms of the complex links Susan Coultrap-McQuin and Lawrence W. Levine have traced between middlebrow culture and postbellum national identity. <i>She Will Be</i> builds on recent scholarship by demonstrating how the American Coming Woman helped reshape notions of women’s literary authorship, modernity, and national identity in the late nineteenth century. By examining her literary life through four key middlebrow genres (<i>Bildungsroman</i>, sentimentality, utopianism, and regionalism), <i>She Will Be</i> reveals how female authors used the Coming Woman figure to imagine—and, indeed, write into being—an expanded vision for the US’s female future.</p>

Cette thèse propose la première étude de la Revue de Paris depuis sa création en avril 1829 jusqu’à sa vente en mai 1834 et a pour but de définir l’identité de ce périodique littéraire.La première partie de cette thèse tente ainsi de replacer « La Revue de Paris en son temps ». Tout d’abord, dans une approche qui appartient au domaine de la sociologie de la littérature, l’auteur recrée le tissu social constitué par les hommes qui dirigent la Revue, par ceux qui lui permettent d’exister financièrement, et enfin par ceux qui y publient. Cette première approche sociologique fait apparaître la profonde diversité des collaborateurs : dès le début, la Revue de Paris s’affirme comme un « panthéon où son admis tous les cultes ». Cette métaphore, qui donne son sous-titre à cette thèse, est tirée du texte liminaire qui annonce la création de l’Album, en novembre 1829 et donne une indication de l’éclectisme qui préside au choix des auteurs dont les articles sont publiés. La lecture de la Revue sous un angle politique, qui constitue le deuxième chapitre de cette thèse, laisse apparaître un ancrage libéral de la Revue. La Revue participe à sa façon à la chute de Charles X. La Revue de Paris se situe au centre-droit. D’abord favorable au nouveau régime, la Revue se fait de plus en plus critique envers l’orléanisme, et le choix de Pichot d’abandonner la « Revue politique » ne fait que confirmer l’éloignement grandissant entre la Revue de Paris et le régime de Juillet.Enfin, cette première approche de l’identité de la Revue analyse sa place dans le champ de la presse littéraire entre 1829 et 1834. Au moment de sa création, la Revue est considérée par son créateur comme la version française des Reviews et Magazines britanniques. Entre 1829 et 1834, et contrairement à ce qu’affirme la longue tradition critique qui fait de la Revue des deux mondes la principale revue littéraire du début des années 1830, la Revue de Paris est le véritable modèle de l’époque.À la fin de cette première partie, les approches combinées de la sociologie littéraire, de la politique et de l’histoire de la presse amène l’auteur à donner une première définition de la Revue de Paris : elle est éclectique, mondaine, libérale et se situe tout en haut de la « pyramide » de la presse littéraire. Au cours de ses cinq années d’existence, elle a été le plus grand périodique littéraire français. Il s’agit alors, après avoir replacé la Revue en son temps, d’interroger le cœur même de la Revue, c’est-à-dire les articles qu’elle publie. Faisant le choix de traiter tout d’abord la création littéraire, l’auteur analyse les textes sous l’angle générique. La création littéraire de la Revue traite les grands thèmes de la littérature de 1830, et en ce sens la Revue est le miroir de son époque. Néanmoins, s’il n’y a pas à proprement parler de « littérature Revue de Paris », la Revue doit être considérée comme un creuset des genres littéraires. Concernant la nouvelle, elle trouve dans la Revue des réalisations dont la variété repose essentiellement sur l’hybridité. Parce qu’elle offre aux auteurs une grande liberté créative, la Revue se définit comme un panthéon où l’imagination se concrétise dans des formes narratives plurielles. Au contraire, la production dramatique est dominée par le genre du proverbe. Quant à la poésie, elle apparaît comme la partie littéraire la plus faible. Cet ensemble est dominé par des auteurs majeurs et mineurs du romantisme, à tel point que l’on peut considérer la Revue de Paris comme une revue romantique. Néanmoins, la partie critique oblige à nuancer cette analyse : la critique littéraire de la Revue de Paris laisse apparaître une critique parfois violente du romantisme. La condamnation morale de la littérature se fait de plus en plus insistante au fil des mois, LA revue romantique par excellence se révèle être le « panthéon où sont admis tous les cultes », qu’ils soient romantiques ou antiromantiques. En réalité, la Revue est le miroir de son époque. / This dissertation proposes the first study of the Revue de Paris since its creation in April 1829 until its sale in May 1834 and aims to define the identity of this literary periodical.The first part of this thesis attempts to replace "The Revue de Paris in its time". First of all, in an approach that belongs to the field of sociology of literature, the author recreates the social fabric constituted by the men who lead the Journal, by those who allow it to exist financially, and finally by those who publish there. This first sociological approach shows the deep diversity of the collaborators: from the beginning, the Revue de Paris is affirmed as a "pantheon where are admitted all the cults". This metaphor, which gives its subtitle to this thesis, is taken from the introductory text that announces the creation of the Album, in November 1829 and gives an indication of the eclecticism that governs the choice of authors whose articles are published. The reading of the Review from a political angle, which constitutes the second chapter of this dissertation, reveals the liberalism of the Review. The Review participates in its own way to the fall of Charles X. The Revue de Paris is located in the center-right. Initially favorable to the new regime, the Review is becoming increasingly critical of Orleanism, and the choice of Pichot to abandon the "Political Review" only confirms the growing distance between the Revue de Paris and the July polity. Finally, this first approach to the identity of the Review analyzes its place in the field of the literary press between 1829 and 1834. At the time of its creation, the Review is considered by its creator as the French version of British Reviews and Magazines. Between 1829 and 1834, and contrary to what affirms the long critical tradition that makes the Revue des deux mondes the main literary review of the early 1830s, the Revue de Paris is the true model of the time. The combined approaches of literary sociology, politics and the history of the press lead the author to give a first definition of the Revue de Paris: it is eclectic, mundane, liberal and is at the top of the "pyramid" of the literary press. During its five years of existence, it was the largest French literary periodical. It is then, after having replaced the Review in its time, to question the very heart of the Review, that is to say the articles it publishes.Making the choice to treat literary creation first, the author analyzes texts from the generic point of view. The literary creation of the Revue deals with the great themes of the literature of 1830, and in this sense the Review is the mirror of its time. Nevertheless, if there is not, strictly speaking, a "Revue de Paris literature", the Review must be considered as a crucible of literary genres. Concerning the short story, it find in the Review of the achievements whose variety rests essentially on the hybridity. Beyond its simple entertaining function, the short story is a success mainly based on its plasticity, which allows it to be both exotic and historical, exotic and fanciful, historical and frantic ... Because it offers authors a great creative freedom, the Revue defines itself as a pantheon where the imagination is concretized in plural narrative forms. On the contrary, dramatic production is dominated by the genre of the proverb. As for poetry, it appears as the weakest literary part. This set is dominated by major and minor authors of Romanticism, so much so that one can consider the Revue de Paris as a romantic review. Nevertheless, the critical part makes it necessary to qualify this analysis: the literary criticism of the Revue de Paris reveals a sometimes violent critique of romanticism. The moral condemnation of literature is becoming increasingly insistent over the months, THE ultimate romantic review proves to be the "pantheon where are admitted all the cults", whether romantic or anti-romantic. In fact, the Review is the mirror of its time.

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An important anomaly in transatlantic criticism is the contrast between transatlantic theory and the applied criticism of literature through a transatlantic lens. While most transatlantic scholars assert the value of individual strands of thought throughout the globe and stress the importance of overcoming national hegemonic barriers in literature, applied criticism generally favors an older model that privileges British literary thought in the nineteenth century. I claim that both British and American writers can influence each other, and that mutations in thought can travel both ways across the Atlantic. To argue this claim, I begin by analyzing the influence of Blackwood's Magazine on the literary aesthetic of Edgar Allan Poe. While Poe's early works read very similar to Blackwood's articles, he positioned himself against Blackwood's in the middle of his career and developed a different, although derivative, approach to psychological fiction. I next follow this psychological strain back across the Atlantic, where Oscar Wilde melded aspects of Poe's fiction to his own unique form of satire and social critique.

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