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History of Literature Lecture: The Victorian Novel (Patreon)

Published:
2022-09-30 17:46:29
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Today we’re talking about the Victorian novel.

We’re discussing realism, romance, revolution, and reform. We’re also talking about anxiety in the age of progress, the rise of the railway, lending libraries, serialised literature, imperialism, women’s rights, framed narratives, decadence, and much more. 

Along the way, we’ll meet great writers like Dickens, Eliot, the Brontë sisters, Conrad, Trollope, Wilde, and Hardy.

Timestamps

  • 0:00 what do we expect from a Victorian novel?
  • 4:30 the exciting thing about Victorian novels
  • 6:00 novel as popular entertainment
  • 8:00 when was the Victorian era?
  • 9:30 the influence of the French Revolution
  • 11:30 England during the Age of Reform
  • 14:00 class strife, workhouses & evolution
  • 15:30 the Great Exhibition of 1851
  • 17:00 utilitarianism & the anxiety of progress
  • 20:00 Irish displacement & slavery
  • 23:00 the Brontë sisters & male pen names
  • 25:00 on the rise of the railway
  • 27:30 Mudie’s lending library
  • 29:00 accessible literature & serialisation
  • 32:00 writing as viable career path
  • 34:30 were the Victorians repressed?
  • 35:00 on adopting male pseudonyms
  • 38:00 moving from romance to realism
  • 40:30 speaking in a common language
  • 41:00 on early gothic literature
  • 43:00 the influence of Jane Austen
  • 44:00 Charles Dickens & George Eliot
  • 46:00 literature & world as looking glass
  • 48:20 the moral purpose of art
  • 49:30 on arousing social sympathies
  • 50:30 Pickwick Mania & Dickensian characters
  • 53:00 A Christmas Carol & Oliver Twist
  • 56:00 Middlemarch & markers of realism
  • 58:30 countryside vs city living
  • 59:00 how urbanisation changed the novel
  • 1:01:00 authorial intrusion vs character dialogue
  • 1:03:00 Henry James’ ‘The Turn of the Screw’
  • 1:04:00 Victorianism & questions of identity
  • 1:05:00 Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’
  • 1:09:00 frame narratives & implied authors
  • 1:11:50 Bram Stoker’s Dracula
  • 1:13:00 on gender double standards
  • 1:16:20 Hardy’s ‘Tess of the D’Urbervilles’
  • 1:18:00 Charlotte Brontë & Elizabeth Gaskell
  • 1:20:00 decay, decadence & degeneration
  • 1:21:00 Robert Louis Stevenson & Sigmund Freud
  • 1:21:47 Charles Baudelaire, Oscar Wilde, Walter Pater

Questions to Consider:

1) What is the quintessential Victorian novel for you?

2) Are there any Victorian writers you would implore lovers of literature to read?

3) Which themes explored in the Victorian period speak the most to you?

Happy reading, everybody!

Files

Previews only

The Victorian Novel Lecture

0:00 what do we expect from a Victorian novel? 4:30 the exciting thing about Victorian novels 6:00 novel as popular entertainment 8:00 when was the Victorian era? 9:30 the influence of the French Revolution 11:30 England during the Age of Reform 14:00 class strife, workhouses & evolution 15:30 the Great Exhibition of 1851 17:00 utilitarianism & the anxiety of progress 20:00 Irish displacement & slavery 23:00 the Brontë sisters & male pen names 25:00 on the rise of the railway 27:30 Mudie’s lending library 29:00 accessible literature & serialisation 32:00 writing as viable career path 34:30 were the Victorians repressed? 35:00 on adopting male pseudonyms 38:00 moving from romance to realism 40:30 speaking in a common language 41:00 on early gothic literature 43:00 the influence of Jane Austen 44:00 Charles Dickens & George Eliot 46:00 literature & world as looking glass 48:20 the moral purpose of art 49:30 on arousing social sympathies 50:30 Pickwick Mania & Dickensian characters 53:00 A Christmas Carol & Oliver Twist 56:00 Middlemarch & markers of realism 58:30 countryside vs city living 59:00 how urbanisation changed the novel 1:01:00 authorial intrusion vs character dialogue 1:03:00 Henry James’ ‘The Turn of the Screw’ 1:04:00 Victorianism & questions of identity 1:05:00 Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ 1:09:00 frame narratives & implied authors 1:11:50 Bram Stoker’s Dracula 1:13:00 on gender double standards 1:16:20 Hardy’s ‘Tess of the D’Urbervilles’ 1:18:00 Charlotte Brontë & Elizabeth Gaskell 1:20:00 decay, decadence & degeneration 1:21:00 Robert Louis Stevenson & Sigmund Freud 1:21:47 Charles Baudelaire, Oscar Wilde, Walter Pater

Comments

Susan James

This is such a helpful and wonderful lecture! Will the Romantic and Post-Modern lectures be forthcoming? Or am I missing them in the feed??

Pierre Bolkonsky
>>103066987

Pynchon is on the menu this year, so perhaps Ben will talk about postmodernism before we read Gravity's Rainbow. As to Romanticism, there was a lecture last year titled "Homer and the Romantics". I haven't watched it yet. It probably doesn't cover all the Romantic movement, just the influence of Homer, but here's a link if you're interested: https://www.patreon.com/posts/homers-influence-70824884

Louiza

Tess of the D’Urbervilles is one of my most favorite novels. It was the first work I've read by Hardy, and so far the only work I have read by him, but I plan to read everything Hardy has ever written. I absolutely love this book, and I had cried not only during my reading, but also a couple days after I had finished it. It still affects my heart when I think of it. I loved Hardy's writing style, his descriptions, his criticism on the hypocrisy of religion and society, and among the other themes within this stunning novel, I think Hardy did a great job showing the cycle of abuse and the learned helplessness that trauma creates, and Tess was indeed traumatized first emotionally by her very own family and eventually by the world she lived in and the men she came into contact with (It was rape). I think Hardy showed clearly that Tess didn't stand a chance between her most awful mother, her drunk, indifferent father, the society's and the church's wrongs and hypocrisy, and the awful, criminal and/or entitled men she encountered.