Concetti Chiave
- The Victorian novel often featured an omniscient narrator who provided judgment and commentary on the plot, with stories set in urban environments symbolizing industrialization and identity loss.
- These novels were characterized by long, intricate plots and a deep psychological exploration of characters, moving beyond mere stereotypes.
- Victorian novels facilitated a communion of interests between writers and middle-class readers, often serialized in periodicals to build connections.
- The genre served as a means of entertainment and social critique, highlighting societal injustices without radical criticism, reflecting urban and industrial growth.
- Despite societal constraints, many novels were written by women using pseudonyms due to publishing biases, as they were significant readers, spending more time at home.
The Victorian Novel
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The Victorian novel→ main features
-omniscient narrator who judges and comments the plot
-the stories were set in the city→ symbol of industrialisation and lost of identities
-long and complicated plots
-the characters were not types BUT there was a deep analysis of their mind
-justification and explanation of the events in the final chapter
The Victorian novel
-communion of interests and opinions between writers and readers
-the main literature consumer was the middle class
-through instalments in the pages of periodicals the writers could create a link with their readers
-novel→ most common form of entertainment ex. read out loud within the family
-the novelists had an important role of denonciation about the evils in society and reflection of social changes such as the growth of towns and industries
-BUT the criticism was not radical→ it made people aware of certain aspects of social injustices
-despite the state of subjection of woman, most of the novels were written by female authors + they were also the main novel-buyers since they spent more time at home than man and so they have more time to read
-BUT it was not easy to publish as woman (this kind of jo was considered “masculine” at that time”) SO they used pseudonym ex. George Eliot aka Mary Ann Evans
-first part of the victorian production→ social and psychological novels → Charles Dickens and Emily Bronte
-second part of victorian production→ scientific look at the human behaviour→ Robert Louis Stevenson and Oscar Wilde