Where Next in Victorian Literary Studies? -'Interesting Times' and the Lesson of 'A Corner in Lightning'

This paper forms part of a Literature Compass cluster of articles which examines the current state of Victorian Literary Studies and future directions. This group of four essays was originally commissioned by Francis O’Gorman (University of Leeds), who also provides an introduction to the cluster. The full cluster is made up of the following articles: ‘Where Next in Victorian Literary Studies? – Introduction’, Francis O’Gorman, Literature Compass 4 (2007), 10.1111/j.1741‐4113.2007.00467.x. ‘Where Next in Victorian Literary Studies? – Revising the Canon, Extending Cultural Boundaries, and the Challenge of Interdisciplinarity’, Joanne Shattock, Literature Compass 4 (2007), 10.1111/j.1741‐4113.2007.00468.x. ‘Where Next in Victorian Literary Studies? –“Interesting Times” and the Lesson of “A Corner in Lightning”’, David Amigoni, Literature Compass 4 (2007), 10.1111/j.1741‐4113.2007.00469.x. ‘Where Next in Victorian Literary Studies? – Historicism, Collaboration and Digital Editing’, Valerie Sanders, Literature Compass 4 (2007), 10.1111/j.1741‐4113.2007.00470.x. ‘Where Next in Victorian Literary Studies? – Historicism and Hospitality’, John Bowen, Literature Compass 4 (2007), 10.1111/j.1741‐4113.2007.00471.x. *** The question ‘where next in Victorian literary studies’ involves thinking simultaneously about the revolution in communications which constituted Victorian culture, and the digital revolution of our present. The article considers the challenges faced by Victorian literary studies in a number of contexts: the production and dissemination of contemporary scholarship; interdisciplinarity as evidenced in the science‐literature relationship; the question of periodisation as evidenced in the study of the Victorian novel and historiography; and finally the question of the ‘globalising’ turn in Victorian Studies which is illustrated through a reading of George Griffiths's 1898 scientific romance ‘A Corner in Lightning’.