Literary Upcycling Across the Irish and English Press: J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s Checkmate (1870–1), Sensation Fiction, and the Conditions of Periodical Publication
Kaitlyn Fralick
Abstract
Sheridan Le Fanu (1814–73) publicly spoke out against his fiction being labelled as “sensation” despite strategically adopting conventions of the popular genre. As proprietor of the Dublin University Magazine, Le Fanu was highly attuned to the demands of periodical serialisation, and he used this knowledge when upcycling his early-career, Dublin-published narratives into new forms for the London press. Though scholars have commented on his tendency to rewrite his previously published fiction, Checkmate (1870–1) remains an understudied case through which to examine the author’s upcycling practices across the Irish and English presses. This article begins to address that gap by reading Checkmate – a sensationalised, contemporary England-set reworking of his historical Ireland-set The Cock and Anchor (1845) – to show how Le Fanu adapted and recontextualised his fiction in response to critical feedback and generic trends. Checkmate’s plot thematises its own transformation through Walter Longcluse, a surgically altered villain who returns anjd re-terrorises the Arden family after a two-decade-long disappearance under a new identity. This article ultimately proposes an approach to understanding Le Fanu’s sensation fiction by foregrounding the interplay between narrative reinvention, authorial creativity, and the opportunities and constraints of Victorian periodical publishing.
Keywords
J. Sheridan Le Fanu; sensation fiction; literary recycling; periodical press; Dublin University Magazine; self-adaptation; Anglo-Irish author
Date of Acceptance: 1 July 2026
Date of Publication: 3 July 2026
Double Blind Peer Reviewed
Recommended Citation:
Fralick, Kaitlyn. 2026. “Literary Upcycling Across the Irish and English Press: J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s Checkmate (1870–1), Sensation Fiction, and the Conditions of Periodical Publication.” Victorian Popular Fictions, 8.1 (Spring): 92-105. ISSN: 2632-4253 (online) DOI: https://doi.org/10.46911/TUIE6824
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