Late-Victorian heroic lives in the writings of Frank Mundell

This study explores the work of Frank Mundell, a late-Victorian author for the Sunday School Union.

Mundell focused on heroism and represented various kinds of heroic deeds and figures, regardless of gender, in his books.

Writing for educative, as well as entertaining, purposes, he avoided the use of didacticism and he endeavoured to combine the traditional and the modern in the stories he chose to tell.

Mundell's favourite format was that of the prosopography, putting together several heroic lives or incidents.

He was careful to dedicate each of his volumes to one topic in particular, thus distinguishing the different types of heroic deeds from one another.

His writings belong to four series, or collections, each highlighting a specific version of heroism, from instances of the mundane performed in a familial context to extraordinary deeds.