Concetti Chiave
- During the Victorian era, novels became popular as books became more affordable, with authors like Dickens using suspenseful instalments to engage readers.
- Novels of this period often addressed social and economic issues, allowing readers to identify with the characters and providing both instruction and entertainment.
- Charles Dickens stood out as a significant novelist, incorporating social critique and humor in works like "Oliver Twist" and addressing industrial issues in "Hard Times."
- Emily and Charlotte Bronte introduced novels of romantic love, with Emily's "Wuthering Heights" blending romantic and gothic elements, and Charlotte's "Jane Eyre" combining realism and imagination.
- Victorian novels often featured realism, portraying everyday life and societal hypocrisy, with a shift from traditional heroism to more relatable characters, as seen in Thackeray's "Vanity Fair."
What is the rise of the novel?
In the Victorian age there was the triumph of the novel, because books became more afford (economici), for example Dickens used Instalment, very afford, it was a publication in which the author created suspense at the final part, so readers wanted to read the second part, and bought it.
In the novel readers can identify with novel’s characters because it is about social and economic problems, utilitarianism and so on..
Novels were read aloud after dinner, the authors had a didactic aim, because readers could be so instructed and entertained, but they had to manage a compromise, because novelists were conditioned by reader’s expectations, showing the desire to please and fear to shock.
Dickens and his influence
Dickens is the most great novelist of that time, in his novel “Oliver Twist” he talks about workhouses , social problems with comic elements. In “Hard Times” he talks about factory system, workers’ problems and utilitarian philosophy.
In Victorian Age novels of Romantic love came with Emily and Charlotte Bronte. The romantic scenery predominates in Emily’s novel, “Wuthering heights”, where Heathcliff is a romantic dark hero, in love with Catherine, but she marries another man for social conventions (like in Jane Austen’s novels marriage as a form of social mobility) but their love will continue after death, as ghosts, so it’s a mixtureof romantic and gothic. Charlotte’s novel “Jane Eyre” is a mixture of realism (there are scenes of her own life) and imagination. Jane Eyre shows courage and determination, she is in love with Mr Rochester.
Realism in Victorian novels
In this period there are novels without heroes like Thackeray’s one “Vanity Fair”, where the hero isn’t full of virtues but he is a simple man in quotidian life, It’s about hypocrisy of the ruling class.
In Victorian novel predominated realism, it was in form of comedy or drama of passion. The narrator is different.
Domande da interrogazione
- How did the publication method contribute to the popularity of novels in the Victorian age?
- What themes did Victorian novels often explore, and how did they engage readers?
- How did realism manifest in Victorian novels, and who were some notable authors?
In the Victorian age, novels became more popular due to their affordability, with authors like Dickens using installment publications. This method created suspense at the end of each part, encouraging readers to purchase subsequent installments.
Victorian novels often explored social and economic problems, utilitarianism, and romantic love. They engaged readers by allowing them to identify with the characters and by being read aloud for both instruction and entertainment, balancing the desire to please with the fear of shocking the audience.
Realism in Victorian novels was expressed through comedy or drama of passion, often without traditional heroes. Notable authors included Thackeray, whose "Vanity Fair" depicted the hypocrisy of the ruling class through the life of an ordinary man.
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