Victorian Literature

Contents: Introduction. 1. The Crisis in Religion. 2. Darwin and Others: The Triumphant March of Science. 3. The Industrial Revolution, Mercantilism, Class and the City. 4. Empire and Race in Victorian England. 5. The Woman Question. 6. Education in Victorian England. Timeline. Index.

This book presents the contexts that generated Victorian literature as we know it: religious dilemmas, new discoveries in science, the advent of industrialisation and the emergence of a new class, growing awareness of women’s rights, and the spread of education. The reign of Queen Victoria was a time of change like it never was before. This book looks at those precincts of change which led to the growth of a new literary creativity encompassing and taking into account the religious, scientific and industrial challenges of the times. (jacket)