The Early and Mid-Victorian Novel

✍ Scribed by David Skilton (editor)

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 195
• Series: Routledge Library Editions: The Nineteenth-Century Novel
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The Victorian period was the age of the novel and critics at the time clearly saw the importance of prose fiction.

First published in 1993, this anthology contains over fifty original extracts from contemporary critics on the early and mid-Victorian novel. Arranged thematically, the volume covers such topics as literary form, the social responsibility of literature, issues of politics and gender, the influence of criticism, realism, plot and characterisation, imagination and creativity, and the office and social standing of the novelist. The introductions and notes draw together the large number of voices and guide the reader through the Victorian literary critical debate.

This accessible and invaluable guide will be of interest to those studying Victorian literature.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Half Title
Title
Copyright
Original Title
Original Copyright
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 The age of the novel
1.1 E.B. Lytton, England and the English, 1833
1.2 Thomas De Quincey, review of John Forster, The Life and Adventures of Oliver Goldsmith, North British Review, 1848
1.3 Walter Bagehot, 'The Waverley Novels', National Review, 1858
1.4 David Masson, British Novelists and Their Styles, 1859
1.5 Review of Trollope's Framley Parsonage, Saturday Review, 1861
1.6 E.S. Dallas, review of Dickens's Great Expectations, The Times, 1861
1.7 J.C. Jeaffreson, review of Trollope's The Small House at Allington, Athenaeum, 1864
1.8 Edith Simcox, review of George Eliot's Middlemarch, Academy, 1873
2 Fiction with a purpose
2.1 T.H. Lister, on Dickens, Edinburgh Review, 1838
2.2 Review of Dickens's The Chimes, Economist, 1845
2.3 Preface to the 1845 edition of Edward Bulwer Lytton, Night and Morning
2.4 E.S. Dallas, The Gay Science, 1866
2.5 Edward Dowden, 'George Eliot', Contemporary Review, 1872
2.6 Anthony Trollope, An Autobiography, 1883, written 1875-6
2.7 John Morley, 'The Life of George Eliot', Macmillan's Magazine, 1885
3 Social, moral and religious judgements
3.1 Elizabeth Rigby, review of Jane Eyre, Quarterly Review, 1848
3.2 E.S. Dallas, review of Geraldine Jewsbury, Constance Herbert, The Times, 1855
3.3 R.H. Hutton, 'The Hard Church Novel', National Review, 1856
3.4 E.S. Dallas, review of Charles Kingsley, Two Years Ago, The Times, 1857
3.5 Walter Bagehot, 'Charles Dickens', National Review, 1858
3.6 H.L. Mansel, 'Sensation Novels', Quarterly Review, 1862
3.7 Review of Trollope's The Eustace Diamonds, Spectator, 1872
3.8 'Literature and Morality', Cope's Tobacco Plant, 1880
4 Realism and idealism: the imitation of life
4.1 John Forster, review of Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby, Examiner, 1839
4.2 'Letter of Dedication' to Wilkie Collins's Basil, 1852
4.3 George Brimley, 'Thackeray's Esmond, Spectator 1852
4.4 George Brimley, review of Lytton's My Novel, Spectator, 1853
4.5 Review of A Lost Love by 'Ashford Owen', Saturday Review, 1855
4.6 G.H. Lewes, 'Realism in Art', Westminster Review, 1858
4.7 George Eliot, Adam Bede, 1859
4.8 G.H. Lewes, 'The Novels of Jane Austen', Blackwood's Magazine, 1859
4.9 David Masson, British Novelists and Their Styles, 1859
4.10 R.H. Hutton, 'The Genius of Dickens', Spectator, 1870
4.11 Anthony Trollope, An Autobiography, 1883, written 1875-6
5 Plot and character: realism and sensationalism
5.1 E.B. Hamley, 'Remonstrance with Dickens', Blackwood's Magazine, 1857
5.2 Walter Bagehot, review of Lost and Won by G.M. Craik, Saturday Review, 1859
5.3 Alexander Bain, from 'Literature of Plot-interest', The Emotions and the Will, 1859
5.4 E.S. Dallas, review of M.E. Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret, The Times, 1862
5.5 Richard Garnett, review of Meredith's Emilia in England, Reader, 1864
5.6 Review of Trollope's The Small House at Allington, Spectator, 1864
5.7 E.S. Dallas, The Gay Science, 1866
5.8 Anthony Trollope, An Autobiography, 1883, written 1875-6
5.9 John Ruskin, 'Fiction, Fair and Foul', Nineteenth Century, 1880 and 1881
6 The imagination and the creative process
6.1 W.C. Roscoe, 'W.M. Thackeray, Artist and Moralist', National Review, 1856
6.2 W.C. Roscoe, 'The Miss Brontes', National Review, 1857
6.3 Elizabeth Gaskell, Life of Charlotte Brontë, 1857
6.4 R.H. Hutton, 'The Novels of George Eliot', National Review, 1860
6.5 E.S. Dallas, The Gay Science, 1866
6.6 Review of Trollope's An Eye For An Eye, Saturday Review, 1879
7 The office of novelist
7.1 E.S. Dallas, 'Currer Bell', Blackwood's Magazine, 1857
7.2 H.B. Thomson, The Choice of a Profession, 1857
7.3 W.R. Greg, 'False Morality of Lady Novelists', National Review, 1859
7.4 E.B. Lytton, 'On Certain Principles of Art in Works of Imagination', Blackwood's Magazine, 1863
7.5 Anthony Trollope, An Autobiography, 1883, written 1875-6
7.6 George Eliot, 'Leaves from a Note-book', 1888, written 1872-8
7.7 Edith Simcox, 'George Eliot', Nineteenth Century, 1881
Further reading