Victorian Literature (PDF)

A comprehensive introduction to the diverse English literature of this period this book examines the way in which social, intellectual and literary changes interacted. Taking major social change as its starting point, the guide explores how all genres of literary discourse were changed and opened up by new methods of serialisation, the increasing complexity of new contexts of consumption, and a pervasive culture of performance. The book offers essential readings of the work of canonical authors, while situating their writing in relation to writers whose work is stimulating new critical attention. The book opens with a chronology and an introduction that explores problems of locating and understanding the period. There are chapters on: the novel; theatricality; poetry; Victorian cultural criticism; and the relationship between the fin de sicle and the present. These chapters introduce key critical concepts such as 'realism', genres such as the dramatic monologue and 'sensation fiction', and areas of debate such as the relationship between science and literature, and women and writing. The detailed readings foreground regularly taught authors of fiction such as Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Wilkie Collins and Bram Stoker; and poets such as Alfred Tennyson, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Christina Rossetti. Key Features*A single, comprehensive and accessible undergraduate introduction to Victorian literature*A coherent yet complex narrative of literary changes and developments*A fresh and accessible introductory account of literary trends from 1830-1900*Essential resources and further reading highlighted*Promotes informed engagement with the canon and current critical debates and establishes pathways towards further reading and lesser-known authors