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Formanyyears,QueenAnnewassimplyaconvenientfigureheadtomark
thebeginningoftheperiodwhichinterestedthecontributorstothisseriesof
volumesoneighteenthandnineteenth-centuryBritishliterature,societyand
culture.Thenintheseconddecadeofthepresentcentury,QueenAnnebegan
tomoveclosertocentrestage,largerythankstoheremergingreputationfor
ambiguoussexualidentity,atellingreminderofthewayinwhichacademic
studyofthepastreflectscontemporaryculturalconcerns.Thistrendis
representedinthecurrentvolumebyDorotaBabilasinanarticle[4From
Britain’sMostUnlovedQueentotheFavourite?FilmRepresentationsof
QueenAnne’]whichfocusesontheroleofthe2018Oscar-nominatedfilm
TheFavourite.Theauthorexamineswaysinwhichthefilmwaspreoccupied
morewiththesymbolicandironicculturalusesoftheQueen,thanwithher
realbiography,andexploresre-appreciationofQueenAnneinthelightof
currentlyprevailingculturalissues,suchasfeminismandLGBTQinclusiveness.
KatarzynaStrzyŠowskainturn[4PoliticalPlottersorPuppets?TheRoleof
WomenattheCourtofQueenAnne’]scrutinisestheviewsofcontemporary
commentatorsandhistoriansaboutthetrueextentoffemaleinfluenceon
affairsofstateinAnne’sreign.
Movingonchronologicallythroughthelong18thcentury,thegreatsocial
themesofindustrialisationandurbanisationformthebackgroundtoPaul
Goring’sdiscussion[4“IsawtheMan,thatsawtheMan,thatsaidhesawthis
wondrousSight”:MediatingtheSpectacleofGeorgeIII’sCoronationinthe
Newspapers’]oftheevolvingroleoftheeighteenth-centurypressinmediating
visualdisplay,andreplacingtraditionalspectatorship.Dealingwithaslightly
laterperiod,UrszulaTerentowicz-Fotyga,writingoftheruralratherthanthe
urbanscene[4TheSemioticsoftheGothicCountryHouseinJaneAusten’s
NorthangerAbbey’],discussesthedomesticationoftheGothicinAusten’s
novel,arguingthatitsdialogicformjuxtaposescontrastinggenresandcodes
thatconstructamulti-layereddialogue.
WhileinterestinQueenAnnehasgrown,thefigureofQueenVictoria
hasfadedsomewhatfromtheforefrontofourcontributors’attentions.This
notwithstanding,VictorianBritishculturecontinuestoattractsignificant
attention.Thereisaparticularlyprominentandwide-ranginggroupofarticles
discussingDickens.MichaelHollington[4DickenstheVagabondandthe
TraditionofNightwalking’]combinesanin-depthanalysisofchosenpassages