My dissertation tracks the production of "common sense" about female sexuality and psychology in nineteenth-century sensational British literature. I move from the sensation novel's heyday, represented by Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone (1868) and Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret (1862), through the fin-de-siècle Gothic literary revival with Bram Stoker's Dracula (1895), and conclude with a reading of the representation of aberrant female sexuality in the emergent science of nineteenth-century sexology. For Victorian readers, few things could have seemed further removed from sensation literature-from lurid crime novels to sordid news stories to sexualized science-than common sense. Yet, my project illustrates the role of sensational literature in provoking the dark millennial fantasies that passed as common sense and often animated theories of femininity expressed in late-Victorian science. Common sense retains its rhetorical force through the assumption that its premises arise naturally and apply universally. But if we take a historical view, a troubling pattern emerges: common sense has often worked to preserve reactionary views of femininity. For example, in the nineteenth century, common sense led medical professionals to the belief that a woman's reproductive system left her constitutionally more susceptible to "hysteria." I define common sense as the product of the frequent iteration of a particular train of associative logic that results in the naturalization and legitimation of claims about reality, even if those claims are both sensationalized and arbitrary. The rhetorical force of common sense requires the perpetual obscuration of its origins. The elusive and frustrating quality of common sense as a cognitive category derives from its ability, in Stuart Hall's words, to "represent itself as the 'traditional wisdom or truth of the ages,' Her extensive feedback on each stage of this project is indicative of her generosity as a scholar and teacher. I would also like to extend my appreciation to Garrett Stewart for his support and the opportunity to participate in the Mellon Seminar in Narrative Theory which lent shape to my methodology at a crucial juncture. His unflagging enthusiasm for close textual analysis and the Victorian novel has certainly proved contagious. Thank you, also, to the other members of my committee Dave Wittenberg, Mary Lou Emery, and Aimee Carrillo Rowe, for their immensely valuable feedback on my work. I would also like to express my gratitude to Cherie Hansen-Rieskamp for her warmth and patience while helping me navigate the trail of paperwork and deadlines on the way to this degree. Financial support for this project was provided by the University of Iowa English Department and the Graduate College. I would also like to thank Charles Greene for kindly granting me permission to include materials from the Morris L. Parrish Collection of Victorian Novelists, Firestone Library, Princeton University. I am grateful to my friends and family for all their thoughtful encourageme...
