Technology, Market, Transmedia Dissemination, and Beyond:An Interdisciplinary Analysis of the Prosperity of the Victorian English Novel

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2026.01.005

Abstract

Abstract:

During the Victorian era, Britain was shaped by the ongoing Industrial Revolution. Supported by technological innovation and new cultural policies, the publishing industry transitioned toward modernization, providing a solid material foundation and cross-border opportunities for literature. Consequently, novel production flourished and became increasingly diverse.The mechanism of serialization led to breakthroughs in narrative techniques. Meanwhile, a growing book market and changing readership promoted the differentiation of genres and themes. Due to serialization and adaptations, novels transcended print media to achieve cross-media popularity. In conclusion, the prosperity of the Victorian novel resulted from the interaction between printing technology, the book market, and transmedia dissemination. This historical experience offers valuable insights for contemporary cultural innovation.

Key words: Victorian Era, English Novel, Printing Technology, Book Market, Transmedia Dissemination

CLC Number:

I106

JIANG Chengyong, WANG Ruoran. Technology, Market, Transmedia Dissemination, and Beyond:An Interdisciplinary Analysis of the Prosperity of the Victorian English Novel[J]. Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies, 2026, 26(1): 59-71.

References 26

[1]	Altick, R.D. 1957. The English Common Reader[M]. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
[2]	Bourdieu, P. 1986. The form of capital[A]. In J. G. Richardson(ed.). Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education[C]. New York: Greenword Press. 241-258.
[3]	Bourdieu, P. & L. J. D. Wacquant. 1992. An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology[M], Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
[4]	Finkelstein, D. 2002. The House of Blackwood: Author-Publisher Relations in the Victorian Era[M]. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press
[5]	Gabriele, A. 2009. Reading Popular Culture in Victorian Print: Belgravia and Sensationalism[M]. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
[6]	Goldman, P. & S. Cooke. 2012. Reading Victorian Illustration, 1855-1875: Spoils of the Lumber Room[M]. London: Routledge.
[7]	Haugtvedt, E. 2022. Transfictional Character and Transmedia Storyworlds in the British Nineteenth Century[M]. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
[8]	Haugtvedt, E. & P. Beth. 2024. Victorian transfictions and transmedia storytelling[J]. Victorian Popular Fictions 6(2): 1-11.
[9]	Hayward, J. 1997. Consuming Pleasures: Active Audiences and Serial Fictions from Dickens to Soap Opera[M]. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky.
[10]	Jenkins, H. 2006. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide[M]. New York: New York University Press.
[11]	Jordan, J. O. & R. L. Patten. 1995. Literature in the Marketplace[M]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[12]	Law, G. 2000. Serializing Fiction in the Victorian Press[M]. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
[13]	Lukács, G. 1971. The Theory of the Novel: A Historico-philosophical Essay on the Forms of Great Epic Literature[M]. London: The Merlin Press Ltd.
[14]	Mayhew, H. 1965. London Labour and the London Poor[M]. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[15]	Meyer, C. 2024. Transmedia Practices in the Long Nineteenth Century[M]. New York: Routledge.
[16]	Pettitt, C. 2020. Serial Forms: The Unfinished Project of Modernity, 1815-1848[M]. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[17]	Sutherland, J. A. 1976. Victorian Novelists and Publishers[M]. London: Athlone Press.
[18]	Toynbee, A. 1884. Lectures on the Industrial Revolution in England: Popular Addresses, Notes and Other Fragments[M]. London: Rivingtons.
[19]	Trollope, A. 2016. The Way We Live Now[M]. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[20]	Rose, J. 2001. The Intellectual Life of the British Working Class[M]. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
[21]	Weedon, A. 2003. Victorian Publishing[M]. Burlington, VT: Ashgate.
[22]	蒋承勇. 2019. 英国小说演变的多角度考察——从十八世纪到当代[J]. 东吴学术(5): 78-87.
[23]	蒋承勇. 2022. 英国小说发展史[M]. 杭州: 浙江工商大学出版社.
[24]	迈克尔·米尔盖特. 2023. 托马斯·哈代传(王秋生译)[M]. 广西: 广西师范大学出版社.
[25]	伊恩·瓦特. 1992. 小说的兴起(高原、董红均译)[M]. 上海: 三联书店.
[26]	朱虹. 1989. 市场上的作家——另一个狄更斯[J]. 外国文学评论(4): 89-96.