Victorian Literature

[sun-star]

Originally posted by crickhollow
Serenade seems pretty Victorian to me...how does it differ from Tennyson? (Serious question, I'm not being sarcastic) Though I would agree that the light-hearted mockery of The Importance of Being Earnest isn't very Victorian, what about Ravenna--the piece that made him famous?

I agree with you in terms of his early poetry (Ravenna was written while he was still at university; I'm not sure about Serenade). When he came to England from Ireland he immersed himself in English poetry - Tennyson, Arnold, Milton, Wordsworth etc, and his poetry shows a lot of their influence. I think, though, that his plays (including Salome), short stories and above all his deliberately-cultivated image were always meant to be subversive and contrary to accepted values. He saw himself as having more in common with French, "Celtic" and Greek literature than Victorianism, IIRC, and believed he was an outsider in 19th century England - and of course he got his wish when his work was banned for the next 50 years.

Thanks for reminding me of the poetry - I hadn't read it in a while

(I should be more careful about writing "I'm sure we all agree", shouldn't I )

[crickhollow]

Originally posted by sun-star
I agree with you in terms of his early poetry (Ravenna was written while he was still at university; I'm not sure about Serenade). When he came to England from Ireland he immersed himself in English poetry - Tennyson, Arnold, Milton, Wordsworth etc, and his poetry shows a lot of their influence. I think, though, that his plays (including Salome), short stories and above all his deliberately-cultivated image were always meant to be subversive and contrary to accepted values. He saw himself as having more in common with French, "Celtic" and Greek literature than Victorianism, IIRC, and believed he was an outsider in 19th century England - and of course he got his wish when his work was banned for the next 50 years.

Thanks for reminding me of the poetry - I hadn't read it in a while

(I should be more careful about writing "I'm sure we all agree", shouldn't I )

Yes you should, but nevertheless, thanks for clarifying. now I agree.

[Jabberwock]

I think you guys are all forgetting the most significant works of the Victorian age:

Alices Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

Just kidding.

However, I did write an undergrad thesis on these books and, in the process, I discovered that they are supposedly the most quoted books in the English language aside from the bible and shakespeare. I don't know what that says about people who speak English and I'm not sure I want to know, but I thought that was funny enough to mention here.

[Mercutio]

Anyone watch the new Bleak House?

Guppy is my hero....

Actually I've only seen the first 2 of 8 hours, so I don't know what our stalker friends ends up doing.

An update on Victorian Lit, since I posted a year ago.

Read Tess of the D'Urbevilles. Basic Hardy.
Read Mayor of Casterbridge-- heartily enjoyed. Nothing better than watching a man's breakdown and path to corruption. ( And no, that was not sarcastic)

I also read Wilkie Collin's the Moonstone and Woman in White. Very intriguing books and characters.

[sun-star]

Bleak House was on here in the autumn - I thought it was great! It's a difficult book to film because there's so many characters and plots going on at once, but they did a good job of it.

[Mercutio]

I've seen the first 6 of 8 hours now. Just the grand finale next Sunday!


I was visiting a college last weekend and sat in on an American History course and a Victorian Lit course. In VL they were discussing Hard Times, which I was faintly familiar with. It wasn't completely lost on me!

The professor did give away part of Bleak House though...got into a discussion about Dickens, HT's serial publication, mentioned it being like Bleak House on Sunday nights...has to keep you interested...and proceeded to tell us something we didn't know was coming (on purpose). The whole class was in an uproar