19th Century… Jack Harkaway: The Victorian Harry Potter 26 Jun 2019 By Stephen Basdeo The Victorians in many ways were just like us: they enjoyed a good scandal whenever it was reported in the press, they liked both trashy and high-brow…
14th Century… The Flemish Revolt: Pierce Egan’s “Quintin Matsys” (1838) 28 Dec 2018 By Stephen Basdeo Pierce Egan the Younger (1814–80) is one of my most favourite Victorian authors. The son of the more famous Regency journalist and writer, Pierce Egan (1772–1849), he…
19th Century… Blind Justice in Eugene Sue’s “The Mysteries of Paris” (1842–3) 26 Jul 201826 Jul 2018 By Stephen Basdeo In the 19 June 1842, issue of the Parisian magazine, Journal des Debats, a new serialised novel appeared entitled The Mysteries of Paris, which ran weekly until 15 October 1843.…
19th Century… An English Republican’s View of Crime and its Causes 19 May 201819 May 2018 By Stephen Basdeo George William MacArthur Reynolds (1814-79) was one of the Victorian era’ most prolific novelists. Inspired by Eugene Sue’s Mysteries of Paris (1843), Reynolds’s famous The Mysteries of…
19th Century… Pierce Egan’s “Robin Hood Ballads” (1840) 6 Jan 2018 This post is not one of my usual essay style posts, with an introduction and conclusion, etc., but more of a research note after having got hold of a first…
18th century… Mack the Knife: The “True” Story Behind the Song 28 Oct 2017 The popular song Mack the Knife was based upon the story of an eighteenth-century highwayman named Captain Macheath. This post traces the literary life of this fictional character. Most people,…
