A History of Victorian Literature - Paperback

by James Eli Adams (Author)

Incorporating a broad range of contemporary scholarship, A History of Victorian Literature presents an overview of the literature produced in Great Britain between 1830 and 1900, with fresh consideration of both major figures and some of the era's less familiar authors. Part of the Blackwell Histories of Literature series, the book describes the development of the Victorian literary movement and places it within its cultural, social and political context.

• A wide-ranging narrative overview of literature in Great Britain between 1830 and 1900, capturing the extraordinary variety of literary output produced during this era
• Analyzes the development of all literary forms during this period - the novel, poetry, drama, autobiography and critical prose - in conjunction with major developments in social and intellectual history
• Considers the ways in which writers engaged with new forms of social responsibility in their work, as Britain transformed into the world's first industrial economy
• Offers a fresh perspective on the work of both major figures and some of the era's less familiar authors

• Winner of a Choice Outstanding Academic Title award, 2009

Back Jacket

A History of Victorian Literature offers a wide-ranging narrative overview of literature in Great Britain between 1830 and 1900, exploring the extraordinarily varied literary production and reception of the Victorian age, with fresh considerations of major figures and new attention to neglected and less familiar careers.

Drawing on a broad range of contemporary scholarship, this book analyzes the development of literary forms - the novel, poetry, drama, autobiography and critical prose - in conjunction with major developments in social and intellectual history. A central concern is the way in which writers engaged with new forms of social responsibility in their works, as Britain transformed into the world's first industrial economy.

Author Biography

James Eli Adams is Professor of English & Comparative Literature at Columbia University. He is the author of Dandies and Desert Saints: Styles of Victorian Masculinity (1995); the general editor of the four-volume Encyclopedia of the Victorian Era (2004); and co-editor of Sexualities in Victorian Britain (1996).