Charles Reade, Hard Cash

Marc Milton Ducusin (McGill University)
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Charles Reade’s

Hard Cash: A Matter-of-Fact Romance

(1863) exemplifies the generic hybridity of Victorian sensation fiction, incorporating elements of the social problem novel and nautical melodrama alongside such familiar sensation tropes as wrongful captivity and criminally appropriated fortunes, combined with an authorial insistence on truth in fiction. A sequel to Reade’s

Love Me Little, Love Me Long

(1859) — which introduced the characters of Lucy Fountain, the sailor David Dodd, and the banker Richard Hardie — the novel was first serialised as

Very Hard Cash

, appearing in Charles Dickens’s

All the Year Round

from 28 March to 26 December, 1863. A three-volume book publication by Sampson Low, under the shortened title of

Hard Cash

, quickly followed within the same year.

1808 words

Citation: Ducusin, Marc Milton. "Hard Cash". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 May 2019 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=38886, accessed 28 March 2024.]

38886 Hard Cash 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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