the victorian age (1832-1901). progress, expansion, mobility

The Victorian Age (1832-1901)


• Progress, Expansion, mobility


• Mattew Arnold “the dialogue of the mind with itself


A Christmas Carol (1843)Charles Dickens


• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886)

• Robert Louis Stevenson


• Dracula (1897) • Bram Stoker


Science, technology and innovation


• Scientific Activity:

• Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species (1859)


• H. G. Wells, The Time Machine (1895); The Island of Dr Moreau (1896)

• C. Dickens, Great Expectations (1860-1861)• Thomas Henry Huxley, On the Physical Basis of

Life (1868). “there is some one kind of matter which is common to all living beings, and that their endless diversities are bound together by a physical, as well as an ideal, unity”


• Thomas Henry Huxley, “The Two Cultures Debate” (1880’s):

• T.H. Huxley, Science and Education (1883)• M. Arnold, Discourses in America (1885)


• Herbert Spenser, The Social Organism (1860)• Social Darwinism


• The Great Exhibition• (1851)• Crystal Palace


• Railway, telegraph and telephone


Wolfgang Schivelbusch,The Railway Journey. The

Industrialization of Time and Space in the 19th Century

Ejzenstein, “Dickens, Griffith and the Film today” (1944)


• Victorian Imperialism


• Edward Said, Orientalism;

• Culture and Imperialism


• Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (1902)

• “wanderers on a prehistoric earth”


• Triple-decker volume


• Circulating Libraries


• Serialization


• Dickens’s Pickwick Papers (1836-7)

The Victorian Age (1832-1901)• Romance vs Novel

• Characters Romance• 1- They are very important members of the society• 2- They do magical/spiritual or heroic tasks that are impossible to normal people. • 3- They are normally one-dimensional characters that stay the same throughout the story. Novel• 1- They are middle class characters • 2- They do daily chores • 3- Sometimes they might evolve, grow.

• Setting• Romance 1- The setting is often vague, or discarded on the whole. • 2- If mentioned, the setting is something magnificent.

3 Castles, Magical and mysterious places Novel

• 1- It is a very detailed setting • 2- It is normally something humble. • 3- It is a real place and if not then it sounds like it is.

The Victorian Age (1832-1901)Period/Time

• Romance• 1- There is no or a vague sense of time.• 2- Do not necessarily stick to chronological order• Novel .• 1- Time Continuum should either be measured by a clock or calendar.• 2- It has to be in chronological order.

• PlotRomance1- The plot in itself was like in a dream, smooth unrelated movements with no climax.Novel

• 1- It had a specific plot with a certain climax.• Language• Romance• 1- The Romances were aimed at the upper class readers • 2- There were standard symbolisms. • Novel• 1- Since it was aimed at middle class readers, the language was simple • 2- There was no symbolism or metaphors or similes • 3- It was denotative rather than connotative


• Tone• Romance• 1- One singular type of tone throughout the romance • 2- Uses emotions that are Ideal.• Novel• 1- The tone varies depending on the genre of the

Novel • 2- Remains realistic. • 3- Uses emotions that are realistic but varies

depending on situations and different characters

The Victorian Age (1832-1901)• Northrop Frye• • " The romancer does not attempt to create “real people” so much as stylized figures which

expand into psychological archetypes. It is in the romance that we find Jung’s libido, anima, and shadow reflected in the hero, heroine, and villain respectively. That is why romance so often radiates a glow of subjective intensity that the novel lacks, and why a suggestion of allegory is constantly creeping in around its fringes. Certain elements of character are released in the romance which make it naturally a more revolutionary form than the novel. The novelist deals with personality, with characters wearing their personae or social masks. He needs the framework of a stable society, and many of our best novelists have been conventional to the verge of fussiness. The romancer deals with individuality, with characters in vacuo idealized by revery, and, however conservative he may be, something nihilistic and untamable is likely to keep breaking out of his pages. (AC, 304–5)

the victorian age (1832-1901). progress, expansion, mobility

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