THE CULTURAL CONSTRUCTION

AND
LITERARY REPRESENTATION OF
VICTORIANISM

Lidia Mihaela Necula, PhD

What is a Victorian What is
novel? Victorianism?
The Two Major Whats
 EXPLORATIONS
INTO THE FORM OF THE NOVEL

gender sexuality

social/
cultural class
changes

the novel =
a response
to
 1ST GENERATION OF
VICTORIAN WRITERS
 W. M.Thackeray  remained close to
 Ch. Dickens their readers
 E. Gaskell
 confident in
progress and the
 A. Trollope
moral improvement
 The Brontë sisters of the individual
 spokesmen of the
epoch
 works critical of
the age
2ND GENERATION OF WRITERS
 Samuel Butler  marked the
 George Meredith transition to
Modernism
 Thomas Hardy  turned against
 George Eliot Victorian authority
and orthodoxy
 no longer had
confidence in the
Victorian
assumptions
 pessimism, satire,
frankness, cynism
 THE NOVEL
the best suited literary form to express

of the epoch

feelings problems conflicts

 THE NOVEL
themes and reaction against
techniques of

- Travel stories - Miraculous tales

- Biographies - Stories of
- Diaries chivalrous deeds
- Historical writings
- Drama
William Makepeace Thackeray JANE AUSTEN
SIR WALTER SCOTT
Pride and Prejudice (1813)
Vanity Fair (1847–48)
Waverley (1814)
and Emma (1816), initiated the
London
dissects and satirizeshighly structured andinaugurated
polished the historical n
society. novel of manners.
 THE 19TH CENTURY NOVEL
must adhere to truth and probability
 A reflection of the  Parody of elevated
truth of every day genres
reality Inappropriate
Inappropriate
deeds in
actions
everyday reality

Books as
of the
authentic A world of Influenced by
adventures
accounts dreams romances

of real DANIEL
people DEFOE
Don Quixote
 DOMINANT TRENDS

TRUTHS SOCIAL
REALISM REFLECTING
ECONOMIC
INDIVIDUAL
Ch. Dickens Ch. Brontë

studied the
Commission Reports
consulted old
newspaper files to
on labor conditions
and sanitation depict the conflict
in Shirley
 G. Eliot
E. Gaskell

Silly novels by
Lady Novelists,
1856
extended the field
of fiction reacts against the
falsification of
reality

presented the life as opposed to:

of the workers in - drawing-room
Manchester literature
- cheap idealizations
THE PROVINCE OF THE NOVEL
= GREATLY EXPANDED
The ordinary
The novel
becomes a
The humble debate on
urgent
matters of
the day.
The ugly
great distress in
in the hungry
the industrial
forties
districts

Mary Barton
Manchester
(1848)

Elizabeth
Gaskell
the low wages and the crowding
the selfishness
the selfishness of in the
employers of landlords
tenements

conditions of Sybil Benjamin

the working
classes (1845) Disraeli
 Ch.Dickens’Oliver Twist
W.M. Thackeray’s Catherine

depicted the UNDERWORLD without any idealization

 THE VICTORIAN NOVEL
EXTENDED THE AREAS OF FICTION

THE SOCIAL THE SPIRITUAL THE GEOGRAPHIC

 THE •PLEADED FOR TRUTH

GREAT

NOVELISTS •DISCOVERED THE HORRORS OF FACTORY WORK FOR CHILDREN AND WOMEN

OF THE EPOCH •DISCOVERED THE MISERABLE DWELLINGS

 RAPID •CONSIDERABLE IMPACT UPON
CHANGES

IN
THE •THE TASTE, QUALITY

SOCIETY

CAUSED •AND NUMBER OF THE READING PUBLIC

 THE NOVEL

A FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT

Expected to provide amusement

• To contain sensational twists of the plot and suspense

A GROWING DESIRE THAT THE
NOVEL SHOULD REFLECT THE
EPOCH WITH ITS URGENT
CONFLICTS AND PROBLEMS.
 TRENDS AND FEATURES
 Writers conformed to the demands of the
public
 The development of magazines led to the
number of readers increasing
 The improvement of education (after 1870)
led to the expansion of the reading public
 HIGHLY DEVELOPED
ECONOMIC SOCIETY
 Literacy of the lower classes (important issue
of the period)
 Quality of best newspapers improving rapidly
 Number of public books rose considerably
 Scientific and technological developments
led to the diversification of readers
 VICTORIAN PRUDERY
 H. Fielding – banished from certain families
 Young girls were not allowed to read Jane
Eyre, The Mill on the Floss
 Reserve regarding certain aspects of life –
against the general current – it advocated
truth
 It developed the habit of family reading
when several generations were present
 PUBLICATION FORM
 Novels appeared in 2-3 volumes – very rarely in
one book
 The part-issue form – driven off by the serial
novel in weekly papers
 The periodical novel – extended the reading
public; spread fiction throughout the country;
lowered the cost
 The form of publication affected the structure
of the novel
 The part issue and serializing enhanced the
role of suspense (each number must offer the
long expected solution of a preceding crisis)
In the days of the old-three volume novel,
didn’t you always look at the end to see that
Louisa and Earl (or young clergyman as the
case might be) were happy? If they died or
met with other grief … I put the book away.
(W.M. Thackeray)
 LETTERS
 Would be sent by the readers to the writer or
to the magazine serializing the novels
 Readers would express their wish regarding
the destiny of the hero or the evolution of
the plot
 Cooperation between reader and plot
 SERIALIZATION
 Offered proof of the rise and fall of sales
 Influenced the creative process

e.g. Dickens needed an encouraging, stimulating

public and he was uneasy whenever sales fell
Trollope refused to have his novel published
until the whole was complete

The consonance between writer and reader

was a particular feature of Victorian fiction.
VICTORIANISM AND HYPOCRISY

Snobbery could compose a

Respectabilit Conformity hypocritical mask
Decency to hide VICE and
y WICKEDNESS
 MAJOR TENDENCIES IN THE VICTORIAN NOVEL:
1. MORAL EDIFICATION
 The writer is faithful to a code of ethical
values to:
- Depict reality
- Teach lessons of virtue
- Improve manners and morals

Balance is always restored through poetic

justice or happy end.
 MAJOR TENDENCIES IN THE VICTORIAN NOVEL

2. DISCUSSION OF THE CHARACTERS WITH

THE READER
 W.M. Thackeray comments as if in private
conversation with the reader on the nature
and actions of the hero.
 MAJOR TENDENCIES IN THE VICTORIAN NOVEL

3. AN INSISTENCE ON THE WAYS IN WHICH

ACTIONS ILLUSTRATE HUMAN NATURE IN
GENERAL