The analysis of Matthew Kneale's Sweet Thames and Peter Ackroyd's Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem as Neo-Victorian novels

Neo-Victorianism is a contemporary field of study in fictional works providing a look at the Victorian era and the nineteenth century. With the rise of neo-Victorian novels in literary fields, the contemporary authors possess opportunities to look back at Victorian history grasping the peculiarities of the era. In their works, contemporary authors portray the Victorian era with a renewed version of the past. Being aware of similarities and differences between the Victorian and contemporary times, these authors provide a critical view of history under the light of neo-Victorianism. The works produced within neo-Victorian theory lead to the recreation of the Victorian era through the perspective of contemporary periods. Such a reestablishment is produced by intermingling the past and present, which is portrayed through various subjects. Among these, the concept of mystery holds a prominence because this concept contributes to the improvement of neo-Victorian fiction. Also contributing to the popularisation of novels, mystery notion is a useful tool to uncover the parallelisms between neo-Victorian novels and various forms of mystery. In this respect, Matthew Kneale's Sweet Thames (1992) and Peter Ackroyd's Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem (1994) are significant novels that demonstrate the associations between the concept of mystery and neo-Victorianism contextually and technically. This thesis will essentially discuss the concept of mystery under the light of neo-Victorian fiction through discussions on history, authenticity, narration and mystery in Matthew Kneale's Sweet Thames (1992) and Peter Ackroyd's Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem (1994) novels.