The Bronze Medal

The great nineteenth-century novels were famous for their cliffhangers, and many people associate the form with Charles Dickens, who wrote serial novels so complex, yet so rewarding, that one might even say they resemble “The Wire.” Printed episodically in magazines, Dickens’s cliffhangers triggered desperation in his readers. In 1841, Dickens fanboys rioted on the dock of New York Harbor, as they waited for a British ship carrying the next installment, screaming, “Is little Nell dead?” (Spoiler: she was.)

— Emily Nussbaum, on the history of cliffhangers, in the New Yorker.

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