Full Description
Charlotte Riddell's The Uninhabited House (1875) tells the story of River Hall and the secrets that are hidden behind its doors. Within this haunted house, Riddell combines the supernatural with Victorian anxieties over stolen inheritance, crime, greed, and class mobility. This new Broadview Edition includes a detailed biography of Charlotte Riddell and illustrations from the original appearance of the novella in Routledge's Magazine; it also includes Riddell's ghost story "The Open Door" (1882), which serves as a useful companion text for The Uninhabited House. The contextual material in the edition highlights Victorian cultural, historical, and literary influences on Riddell's text, including women's contributions to the ghost story, print culture, and the development of supernatural fiction; the link between ghost stories and the holidays; and the haunted house, ghost hunting, and popular beliefs about ghosts in the Victorian era.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Charlotte Riddell: A Brief Chronology
A Note on the TextThe Uninhabited House
Appendix A: Literary and Biographical Contexts
1. From Mrs. J.H. Riddell, "The Miseries of Christmas," Routledge's Christmas Annual (December 1867)
2. [Raymond Blathwayt], "Lady Novelists—A Chat with Mrs. J.H. Riddell," Pall Mall Gazette (18 February 1890)
3. From Helen C. Black, "Mrs. Riddell," Notable Women Authors of the Day (1893)
Appendix B: "The Open Door"
1. Mrs. J.H. Riddell, "The Open Door," Weird Stories (1882)
Appendix C: Contemporary Views on Ghosts, Haunted Houses, and Dream States
1. From Catherine Crowe, The Night Side of Nature (1848)
2. From F. Anstey [Anstey Guthrie], "The Decay of the British Ghost," Longman's Magazine (January 1884)
3. From Andrew Lang, Cock Lane and Common-sense (1894)
4. From William Fishbough, "The Spirit World Illustrated from Dream Life," The Spiritual Magazine (February 1872)
Appendix D: The Business of London City Life
1. From F.G. Trafford [Charlotte Riddell], George Geith of Fen Court (1865)
2. From George Augustus Sala, "Houses to Let," Gaslight and Daylight (1872)
3. From Edward F. Turner, The Organisation of a Solicitor's Office (1886)
4. From Francis Davenant, What Shall My Son Be? (1870)
5. From Charles Edward Parsons, Clerks: Their Position and Advancement (1876)
Select Bibliography and Recommended Reading
