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Sensation and Professionalism in the Victorian Novel

that the Death of the Author was a pernicious trope, but in Griffin’s treatment it becomes just another interesting twist in the tale—or tales. It takes a scholar of Griffin’s experience and insight to assess the field so skillfully while simultaneously maintaining a light enough touch to charmingly enthuse over Dryden’s elegy to Oldham. His book reveals the social dimension of eighteenth-century writing which is made visible at every stage of literary production. However, Griffin is also quick to remind his readers that “individual authorship does not dissolve into authorship by a group” (p. 56) when collaborative efforts are taken into consideration. The authors we know from the period are generally the ones who were able to take advantage of the opportunities created by such efforts. Anyone interested in the history of authorship will find Griffin’s work useful and the problems it raises relevant and puzzling. In his introduction, Griffin points to the possibilities offered by electronic databases like EEBO, ECCO and others. He goes on to ask the questions the next generation of scholars must answer: