Infectious Reimagining: : An Introduction to Neo-Victorian Contagion

Mel Kohlke

doi:10.5281/nvs.v15i2.393

Infectious Reimagining:

An Introduction to Neo-Victorian Contagion

Authors

Marie-Luise Kohlke

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5281/nvs.v15i2.393

Keywords:

contagion, disciplinary regimes of power, disease metaphors, The Disinvited Guest, ethics of care, neo-Victorian, Nights of Plague, Othering, Sherlock Holmes, viropolitics

Abstract

This critical introduction explores the thematics of the 2024/2025 special issue of Neo-Victorian Studies on Neo-Victorian Contagion through the lenses of viropolitics, Sherlock Holmesian investigative tropes, disease metaphors, ethics of care contesting forms of Othering, and disciplinary regimes of power promoting political and capitalist interests. It outlines likely future trajectories of and developments in neo-Victorian contagion fiction, as well as introducing the special issue contributions.