Victorian Literary Background

Victorian LITERARY Background

NOVELS were predominantdescribe the effects of economic growth on human lives

ANTI-VICTORIAN REACTION

VICTORIAN COMPROMISE

to STRONGLY criticize their age

to instruct/entertain readers WITHOUT criticizing the world they belonged to

VICTORIAN COMPROMISE

• belief in positivity of scientific progress
• combination of dehumanisation of Victorian work and life with adventurous tone + moral aim

ANTI-VICTORIAN REACTION

Realistic representation of the world with personal/moral judgment from the writers(influence of Darwin, Realism, Positivism)

Why a boom of novels?

higher LITERACY rate

increased NUMBER of book buyers

published in INSTALMENTS in magazines (more engaging)

borrowed from CIRCULATING LIBRARIES

a form of ENTERTAINMENT

easily PORTABLE

FEATURES of NOVELS

to entertain, instruct with complex issues

COMPLEX PLOTS: adventurous, high number of characters, unexpected events

made the readers reflect on the world

there was a CLEAR MORAL (virtue)

third person omniscient narrator

REALISTIC REPRESENTATION of Victorian life: good/evil; wealthy/poor; optimism/pessimism

BILDUNGSROMAN

analytical criticism of society

Most important NOVELISTS

Henry James

Charlotte Bronte

Charles Dickens

Emily Bronte

Thomas Hardy

Victorian novelists

• idea of the divided self (duality of human nature)

• realistic portrait of cities

• set in London (industrialisation + expansion of towns)

• contrast life vs faith in progress

• role of moral values in life (colonisation)

• wanted to make the readers aware of social evil