The Victorian novel

This survey challenges conventional ways of viewing the Victorian novel. The author explores the extremely varied and often experimental prose fiction of the period, paying attention to contemporary bestsellers as well as to major literary works. He reminds the reader that most Victorian novelists h...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: James, Louis, 1933-
Corporate Authors: Wiley InterScience (Online service)
Published:
Literature type: Electronic eBook
Language: English
Series: Blackwell guides to literature
Subjects:
Online Access: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/9780470775844
Summary: This survey challenges conventional ways of viewing the Victorian novel. The author explores the extremely varied and often experimental prose fiction of the period, paying attention to contemporary bestsellers as well as to major literary works. He reminds the reader that most Victorian novelists had their imaginations shaped not by high Victorianism, but by the ideals and sensibility of the Romantic period, and suggests that their work therefore embodies a tension between idealism and a new materialist objectivity. The volume is based on the premise that a broad understanding of the Victorian period powerfully assists our understanding of its prose fiction. For this reason, the author not only provides overviews of the historical and social contexts of the Victorian novel, but also considers its relationship to historical, religious and biographical writing. The literary achievements of major novelists receive individual entries, while a section on topics considers issues such as colonialism, scientific speculation, the psychic and the supernatural, and working-class reading.
Carrier Form: 1 online resource (xii, 249 pages) : illustrations
Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-240) and index.
ISBN: 9780470775844
047077584X
1405152281
9781405152280
Index Number: PR871
CLC: I561.074
Contents: Time maps -- Changing perspectives -- Foundations -- Key authors -- Key texts -- Topics.