Anyone here read Victorian/long 19th century British Lit? I started by reading Dickens and Austen but then found out about Eliot, Hardy, Gaskell, Gissing and Forster. Their works blew me away! But when I try to find discussion groups on these authors… does no one talk about these authors anymore? I’m based in the U.S., so perhaps our literature landscape here is skewed. I was surprised that there only really is a worldwide society for Dickens, Trollope and Austen, and none of the others that I was interested in. I have loved learning about Dickens’ works through the Dickens fellowship but I’m in my 30s and there’s rarely another person younger than me in the group. Though the language might be “outdated” for some (I personally love the language in these novels), I thought that a lot of the themes are still very relevant (i.e. gender equality, changing nature of family, class conflict, tradition vs. progress, disruption of life due to technology, capitalism, and so much more)!
Anyway, I especially have loved *Bleak House*, *Little Dorrit*, *Middlemarch*, *Felix Holt*, *The Return of the Native*, *Tess of the D’Urbervilles*, *North and South*, *New Grub Street*, *The Odd Women*, and *Howard’s End*. Any other British Lit fans out there? How do you feel about the relevance of these novels today? And where do you find community about these works?
by Beleriand7004
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Have you ever read any of the, some say, lesser-known Bronte novels such as “Shirley” or “Villette”? From a Thriftbooks description, “The ‘Shirley’ of the title is a woman of independent means; her friend Caroline is not. Both struggle with what a woman’s role is and can be. Their male counterparts – Louis, the powerless tutor, and Robert, his cloth-manufacturing brother – also stand at odds to society’s expectations. The novel is set in a period of social and political ferment, featuring class disenfranchisement, the drama of Luddite machine-breaking, and the divisive effects of the Napoleonic Wars. But Charlotte Bronte’s particular strength lies in exploring the hidden psychological drama of love, loss and the quest for identity. Personal and public agitation are brought together against the dramatic backdrop of her native Yorkshire. As always, Bronte challenges convention, exploring the limitations of social justice whilst telling not one but two love stories.”
One of my favorite reads, the transformative changes (with different causes) the four main characters go through are very relatable still, and the language is descriptive and compelling. Also “Vanity Fair”, if you haven’t read that yet, is a great novel.
Not a ton to offer ya, but I took a Dickens class for undergrad 10 years ago — reading list was insanely heavy (like 8 novels in a semester). Only one I managed to finish before we had to move on to the next one, somehow, was Bleak House. Absolutely blew me away.
What’s another must-read if I loved that one? Looking for another immersive doorstopper.
There are subreddits for a lot of major classic authors, including Dickens, the Bronte sisters, etc. which you can look up and join. There are often interesting discussions about novels and their historical context on those subreddits.
Finding fellow fans of these classics, especially those also in their 30s or thereabouts, is indeed challenging in the US. Some libraries have a classics-specific book club which might be a good place to start, but those may not be so easy to find, especially if you’re in a small town. Maybe try talking to your friends about some of the shorter and more well-known classics, like *Sherlock Holmes* or *Frankenstein* (perfect for Halloween season!) and try to convince them to read those books. I also love the “old-fashioned” language but unfortunately not everyone does, but maybe you’ll find that some of your friends do and could eventually get hooked on the longer classics!
i went through an obsessive 1800s british lit phase about a year ago- my absolute favourites would have to be great expectations, wuthering heights, frankenstein and the picture of dorian gray. also enjoyed a christmas carol, oscar wilde’s plays and lots of romantic poetry.
it’s hard to find communities of similar readers- my book club and friends generally stick to contemporary reads. i must confess that this year i’m much busier and when i do read i tend to need something lighter- often i have an older classic on the go at the same time as an easier novel- at the moment i’m reading huckleberry finn but i’m taking it slow and reading parts when i feel like it.
generally i discuss these books with my english professors but that’s about it- i would love to form a classics book club at some point.
i think a lot of 19th c british lit is largely still relevant, if in conjunction with more feminist and post-colonialist lit- i think that a variety of perspectives is really important which includes but is not limited to 1800s british lit, but i’ve found it fascinating to gain an insight into that period of history through literature, whilst remembering that it is a limited perspective.
Have a look at Arnold Bennett (very late Victorian, like Hardy/Gissing era) – you could start with The Old Wives Tale. Thackeray is also very good and Wilkie Collins started the detective novel. Henry James is almost definitively Victorian – try Portrait of a Lady
Technically E M Forster is Edwardian, so you could look at other novelists from that era – Conrad, H G Wells etc. Even Proust, although it will take you months at least. After I finished, I heard someone say that they read a book of A la recherche per year – that might work if it’s a bit daunting
Or have you looked at the French authors, who were extremely prolific in that era? Victor Hugo, Balzac, Flaubert, Emile Zola? Or Tolstoy does the sprawling Victorian novel but in a completely different way
It’s different from what you love about the big three-decker novels, but in the 1890s, they were working to break that – so you mention Hardy and Gissing, but also Colette, Henry James, Oscar Wilde, Dracula
Enjoy!
I have learned that many long lost or recently lost authors have many works of literature that are good but may be censored due to their form of writing. Meaning in some cases of not being politically correct using the language of their time for the audience they were courting. It may “offend” someone not understanding history, cultural changes over time and one’s own prejudices instilled in society today.
Have you read any other works by Eliot? I finished Romola earlier this year after reading Daniel Deronda. Daniel Deronda had a lot of sections I would consider relevant to today. Romola is a lot more dated (it takes place in the 15th century) and less humorous but the overall concept of the lives of the everyday citizen being threatened by the egos of power hungry people along with political instability/distrust are relevant to today also.
This bit from Romola says it all for me (no spoilers of course)
More than three centuries and a half ago, in the mid spring-time of 1492, we are sure that the angel of the dawn, as he travelled with broad slow wing from the Levant to the Pillars of Hercules, and from the summits of the Caucasus across all the snowy Alpine ridges to the dark nakedness of the Western isles, saw nearly the same outline of firm land and unstable sea—saw the same great mountain shadows on the same valleys as he has seen to-day—saw olive mounts, and pine forests, and the broad plains green with young corn or rain-freshened grass—saw the domes and spires of cities rising by the river-sides or mingled with the sedge-like masts on the many-curved sea-coast, in the same spots where they rise to-day. And as the faint light of his course pierced into the dwellings of men, it fell, as now, on the rosy warmth of nestling children; on the haggard waking of sorrow and sickness; on the hasty uprising of the hard-handed labourer; and on the late sleep of the night-student, who had been questioning the stars or the sages, or his own soul, for that hidden knowledge which would break through the barrier of man’s brief life, and show its dark path, that seemed to bend no whither, to be an arc in an immeasurable circle of light and glory. The great river-courses which have shaped the lives of men have hardly changed; and those other streams, the life-currents that ebb and flow in human hearts, pulsate to the same great needs, the same great loves and terrors. As our thought follows close in the slow wake of the dawn, we are impressed with the broad sameness of the human lot, which never alters in the main headings of its history—hunger and labour, seed-time and harvest, love and death.