Advances in the Visualization of Data: The Network of Genre in the Victorian Periodical Press

This article uses network analysis to explore the reception of theological novels in periodicals during the 1880s. It seeks to redress the neglect of readers shown in arguments for distant reading and to contribute to a growing field of scholarship that applies digital methods to Victorian periodicals. By using data visualization, I analyze how periodical writers drew connections among theological novels. This approach teaches us to see genre not as genealogy but as a means of classification used by readers seeking to make sense of a literary field.