Eminent Novelists of the Victorian Age

Name:   Bharat Bhammar

Roll no:   04

Batch Year:   2014-15

Semester:   2

Paper no:   05 (The Romantic Literature)

Submitted to:   S.B.G Dept. of English

                           M.K.K.S.Bhavnagar University     

   

Eminent Novelists of the Victorian Age

The Victorian period generally begins in 1837 (the year in which became Victoria became Queen) and ends in 1901 (the year of her death).  As a matter of expediency, these dates are sometimes modified slightly.  1830 is usually considered the end of the Romantic period in England, and thus makes a convenient starting date for the Victorian age.  Similarly, since Queen Victoria’s death occurred so soon in the beginning of a new century, the end of the previous century provides a useful closing date for the period.

Generally Victorian Age is also considered as the age of prose and especially of novel. In comparison to other forms of literature novel is a quite modern form. Novel spent its childhood in the second half of the eighteenth century, while in the second half of the nineteenth century; novel seemed to be much matured, adult and young. The eighteenth century novelists like Richardson, fielding, smollet and Sterne who gave a good move to English novel but the Victorian novelists led this form to the pick of the perfection.

The early Victorian novel as cultivated by Disraeli, Trollope, Dickens, Thackery etc. Was essentially a transcript from life.Insted of seeking inspiration from the middle ages or the world of romance, the Victorian novelists concentrated on the social, political, economic aspects of Victorian Society. The Victorian reader found in novel what he looked for, and the early Victorian novelists provided him a historical perspective of the age in its varied aspects. The early Victorian novelists did not very much bother about coherent plots. The structure was loose, and the progress of the story was hampered by episodic instructions, anconnected descriptions and moral sermons by the novelists.

A noteworthy feature of the age was the rise of the women novelists like Jane Austen, George Eliot, and Bronte Sisters enriched the English novel. They wrote passionately in a poetic language, but their range was limited and there were autobiographical patches in their works. Moreover, by the end of the nineteenth century the novel as a species of literature had thrust itself into the first rank. Therefore, this period is essentially regarded as an age of novels. Because during this age or period novel made a phenomenal progress as various types of novels can be observed such as Domestic Novels, Psychological Novels, and Historical Novels, which were cultivated by many prominent novelists as enlisted below.

Ø  Charles Dickens

Ø  Thomas Hardy

Ø  George Eliot

Ø  William Makepeace Thackeray

Ø  Charlotte Bronte

Ø  Emily Bronte

Ø  Anne Bronte

Ø  George Meredith

So, let’s elaborate these novelists by observing their novels in detail.

Charles Dickens

Charles John Dickens (7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist and social critic. He created some of the world's most memorable fictional characters and is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the period. During his life, his works enjoyed unprecedented fame, and by the twentieth century his literary genius was broadly acknowledged by critics and scholars. His novels and short stories continue to be widely popular. As a prolific 19th Century author of short stories, plays, novellas, novels, fiction and non-fiction, during his lifetime Dickens became known the world over for his remarkable characters, his mastery of prose in the telling of their lives, and his depictions of the social classes, mores and values of his times. He created some of the world's most memorable fictional characters and is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the period. During his life, his works enjoyed unprecedented fame, and by the twentieth century his literary genius was broadly acknowledged by critics and scholars. His novels and short stories continue to be widely popular.

His creative works are:

The Pickwick papers

David Copperfield

Oliver Twist

A Tale of two cities

Great Expectations

The Pickwick paper is having good beginning as well as famous for its artistic finishing, which is the first novel by Charles Dickens. Its main literary value and appeal is formed by its numerous memorable characters. Each character in The Pickwick Papers, as in many other Dickens novels, is drawn comically, often with exaggerated personality traits. The Pickwick Papers is also known as The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.

David Copperfield is a masterpiece by Dickens, it has well beginning and it gives us of the author’s own boyhood and family. David Copperfield is probably the most autobiographical novel by Dickens. He uses many incidents of his childhood and early life to create a considerable fictional achievement. This novel is the common name of the eighth novel by this writer, first published as a novel in 1850. Its full title is The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunders tone Rookery. Like most of his works, it originally appeared in serial form during the two preceding years. Many elements of the novel follow events in Dickens' own life, and it is probably the most autobiographical of his novels.

A Tale of Two city is a very well known novel by Duckens, which involves well knitted plot and thrilling actions. A Tale of Two Cities was published in the year of 1859, set in London and Paris before and during the French. With well over 200 million copies sold, it ranks among the most famous works in the history of fictional literature. The novel depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralised by the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution, and many unflattering social parallels with life in London during the same time period. Here Dickens introduces several pathetic or laughable characters besides the main character.So, a Tale of Two city has its own place in the development of the main story, which is written in Dickens’s usual picturesque style, and reveals his usual imaginative outlook on life and his fondness for fine sentiments and dramatic episodes.

Oliver Twist, which is entitled as The Parish Boy's Progress and it, is the second novel by major English novelist of the Victorian age. Oliver Twist is remembered for Dickens's unromantic portrayal of criminals and their social lives. The story deals with an orphan, Oliver Twist, who endures a miserable existence in a workhouse and then is placed with an undertaker.

Great Expectations is well read novel by Dickens. It is Dickens’s thirteenth novel. It is his second novel, after David Copperfiel.and it is fully narrated in the first person. As Dickens began writing Great Expectations, he undertook a series of hugely popular and remunerative reading tours. He had separated from his wife, Catherine Dickens, and was keeping secret an affair with a much younger woman, Ellen Ternan.However, economic situations and the idea of romance dictated Great Expectation’s design and implementation.

 Thomas Hardy

                                               

Thomas Hardy was the optimistic writer of the pessimistic age, who was born on 2 June 1840 and died on 11 January 1928.He, was considered as the most celebrated English novelist and poet of the Victorian age. Thomas Hardy was born in the village of Upper Bockhampton, located in South-western England. His father was a stone mason and a violinist. His mother enjoyed reading and relating all the folk songs and legends of the region. Between his parents, Hardy gained all the interests that would appear in his novels and his own life: his love for architecture and music, his interest in the lifestyles of the country folk, and his passion for all sorts of literature. At the age of eight, Hardy began to attend Julia Martin's school in Bockhampton. However, most of his education came from the books he found in Dorchester, the nearby town. He learned French, German, and Latin by teaching himself through these books. At sixteen, Hardy's father apprenticed his son to a local architect, John Hicks. Under Hicks' tutelage, Hardy learned much about architectural drawing and restoring old houses and churches. Hardy loved the apprenticeship because it allowed him to learn the histories of the houses and the families that lived there. Despite his work, Hardy did not forget his academics: in the evenings, Hardy would study with the Greek scholar Horace Moule. Hardy also found happiness in his personal life. His first wife, Emma, died in 1912. Although their marriage had not been happy, Hardy grieved at her sudden death. In 1914, he married Florence Dugale, and she was extremely devoted to him. After his death, Florence published Hardy's autobiography in two parts under her own name. 

Some of his works are under

Tess of the d'Urbervilles 

The Mayor of Caster Bridge

Under the Greenwood Tree

Jude the Obscure

Far From the Madding Crowd

Tess of the d'Urbervilles is rich in its involvement with several themes and issues. Like most other Hardy novels, rural life is a prominent issue in the story. The hardships and drudgery of rustic lifestyle are explored fully through the travel and work experiences of Tess. Religious orthodoxy and social values are questioned in the novel. The issue of fate vs. freedom of action is another important aspect of Tess of the d'Urbervilles. While the main storyline may sound fatalistic, Hardy does not miss the opportunity to point out that the darkest of tragedies could be prevented by human action and consideration.

The Mayor of Caster Bridge, which was published in the year of 1886, entitled as "The Life and Death of a Man of Character", is a tragic novel by British author Hardy. Its setting is in the fictional town of Caster bridge, which is based on the town of Dorchester in Dorset. The book is one of Hardy’s Wessex Novels, all set in a fictional rustic England.

Under the Greenwood Tree, this was written by Hardy subtitled as a Rural Painting of the Dutch School. This novel got publication anonymously in 1872. It was Hardy's second published novel, the last to be printed without his name, and the first of his great series of Wessex novels.

Jude the Obscure, the last but not in the list, which is completed by Hardy, which began as a magazine serial and was first published in book form in 1895. Its hero, Jude Fawley, is a working-class young man who dreams of becoming a scholar. The other main character is his cousin, Sue Bridehead, who is also his central love interest. The themes in the novel revolve around issues of class, education, religion and marriage. So, this is a thought provoking novel.

Far From the Madding Crowd is masterpiece by Hardy, which got publication in the year of 1874, and this is the fourth novel, which has been written by this writer. And this novel also got helped him to get popularity and literary success. It originally appeared anonymously as a monthly serial in Cornhill Magazine, where it gained a wide readership. Critical notices were plentiful and mostly positive. Hardy revised the text extensively for the 1895 edition, and made further changes for the 1901 edition. At last this novel is a worth reading.

William Makepeace Thackeray:

William Makepeace Thackeray was born in 1811, in Calcutta, when he was five years old his father died and his mother returned with her child to England and then Thackeray was sent to the famous charterhouse school. In 1829 Thackeray entered in Trinity College at Cambridge University, but he left this college in two years and directly went to Germany and France, where he studied with the idea of becoming an artist. He was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works.

Henry Esmond

Henry Esmond is the most perfect novel of Thackeray. This novel gives us the most complete and accurate picture of the past age. It is a historical novel which got publication in the year of 1852.the novel deals with the story of the early life of Henry Esmond. This novel is a typical example of Victorian novels. , Thackeray's work of historical fiction tells its tale against the backdrop of late 17th- and early 18th-century England – specifically, major events surrounding the English restoration and utilizes characters both real and imagined.

Vanity Fair

Vanity Fair is the best known novels among all of his novels; in this novel he expresses his own views of the social life. In this novel we may find a novel without hero which is the style, which was developed by Thackeray. This novel published in 1847–48, which focuses on the satire on society in early the 19th-century. The novel is now considered a classic. And this is a masterpiece by Thackeray.

George Eliot

George Eliot is the most extensive personalities in the Victorian novels. Because she was well-known for her novels as well as characters. Mary Anne Evans is the real name of the George Eliot, who was born on 22 November 1819, and passed away on 22 December 1880.George Eliot, was an eminent English novelist, journalist, translator and one of the leading writers of the Victorian age. Mary Anne Evans was the third child of her parents. She used a male pen name, she said, to ensure her works would be taken seriously. Female authors were published under their own names during Eliot's life, but she wanted to escape the stereotype of women only writing light hearted romances. She has written many novels most of them set in provincial England and known for their realism and psychological insight.
Middlemarch
Silas Marner
The Mill on the floss
Romola
As it is the seventh novel of George Eliot, the mastery can be found in the works of her. A Study of Provincial Life is the second subtitle of this novel. The novel is set in the fictitious midlands town of Middlemarch. It has multiple plots with a large cast of characters, and in addition to its distinct though interlocking narratives it pursues a number of underlying themes, including the status of women, the nature of marriage, idealism, self-interest, religion, hypocrisy, political reform, and education.
Silas Marner is the novel, which was written by Eliot.Silas Marner is also subtitled as the Weaver of Raveloe, which was published in the year of 1861. The novel is set in the early years of the 19th century. In Silas Marner, Eliot combines symbolism with a historically precise setting to create a tale of love and hope. An outwardly simple tale of a linen weaver, it is notable for its strong realism and its sophisticated treatment of a variety of issues ranging from religion to industrialization to community.
The Mill on the Floss is a novel by George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), like other novels by George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss articulates the tension between circumstances and the spiritual energies of individual characters struggling against that circumstances. So, and this is very inspiring and attention grabbing novel.
Romola is Novel by George Eliot. It is a historical novel which is set in the fifteenth century. This novel deals with the study or deep study of life in the city of Florence. The story takes place amidst actual historical events during the Italian Renaissance, and includes in its plot several notable figures from Florentine history. In which the female protagonist through whom the surrounding world is evaluated. Contemporary and modern critics have questioned the likelihood of the level of scholarship attributed to women such as Romola in Renaissance Italy, and have pointed to the possible role of the title character as a Victorian critic of the constrained lot of women in that period, as well as in Eliot's contemporary period. So, the story also deals with the dilemma of where the duty of obedience for women ends and the duty of resistance begin.

Charlotte Bronte:

Charlotte Bronte is the name among the successful novelists of the Victorian Age. She was born on 21 April 1816 and passed away on 31 March 1855.She was an English novelist and poet. Charlotte Bronte the eldest of the three Bronte sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels are English literature standards. In 1824 the four eldest Bronte daughters were enrolled as pupils at the Clergy Daughter's School at Cowan Bridge. The following year Maria and Elizabeth, the two eldest daughters, became ill, left the school and died: Charlotte and Emily, understandably, were brought home.

Her father was an Irish clergyman and she had a financial difficulties compelled Charlotte to become a school teacher and she worked in the school from 1835 to 1838 though the job was not her area of interest. Along with family she visited Brussels in 1842 and then returned home, where family cares kept her closely tied. Later her books had much success, and she was released from many of her financial worries. She was married in1854, but died in the next year. The truth and intensity of Charlotte’s work are unquestioned; she can judge and see with the eyes of genius. But these merits have their disadvantages. In the plots of her novels she is largely restricted to her own experience; her high seriousness is unrelieved by any humours and her passion is at times over charged to the point of frenzy. But to the novel she brought an energy and passion that gave to common place people the wonder and beauty of the romantic world.

Her novels like

Jane Eyre

Shirley

The Professor

Villette

Jane Eyre is her greatest novel. Jane Eyre is her Autobiographical novel, which was published on 16 October 1847.the love story of the plain, but very vital, heroine is unfolded with a frank truthness and a depth of understanding that are new in English fiction. The plot is weak, full of improbability, and often melodramatic, but the main protagonists are deeply conceived, and the novel rises moments of sheer terror. Jane Eyre follows the emotions and experiences of its eponymous character, including her growth to adulthood, and her love for Mr. Rochester, the Byronic. The novel contains elements of Social criticism, with a strong sense of morality at its core, but is nonetheless a novel many consider ahead of its time given the individualistic character of Jane and the novel's exploration of classism, sexuality, religion, and proto-feminism. Jane Eyre is not a pure romance novel. It’s a complex work combing elements of the coming-of-age story. It has some aspects of the gothic novel.
Shirley is written by Charlotte Bronte, which is another masterwork of her, which got publication in the year of 1849.It is also social novel. As the history indicates that she was an eminent English novelist. In her next novel, Charlotte reverts to a more normal and less impassioned portrayal of life. Again the theme is love story of a young girl, here delicately told though the plot construction is weak. The novel's popularity led to Shirley's becoming a woman's name. The title character was given the name that her father had intended to give a son. Before the publication of the novel, Shirley was an uncommon - but distinctly male - name and would have been an unusual name for a woman. So, it is regarded as a distinctly female name and an uncommon male name. Therefore, it is well read novel.
The Professor was the first novel, which was written by Charlotte Bronte. It was originally written before Jane Eyre, but because of the rejection by many magazines it could not published. . Title character William Crimsworth's attempt to find his own way in a world obsessed with money and manners comes alive as Bronte's vivid images and Wilby's lyrical delivery combine. Met with a rainbow of characters, the listener can easily establish each as an individual and understand how they impact Crimsworth.
Anne Bronte is by far the most important figure of the three Bronte Sisters though she is marginalized, but her popularity cannot be neglected. She was born on 17 January 1820 and died very earlier in the year of 1849 in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England. She was a British novelist and poet, the youngest member of the Bronte literary family. Anne Bronte lived most of her life with her family at the parish of Haworth on the Yorkshire moors. For a couple of years she went to a boarding school. At the age of 19 she left Haworth and worked as a governess between 1839 and 1845. After leaving her teaching position, she fulfilled her literary ambitions. She wrote a volume of poetry with her sisters and two novels Agnes Grey, based upon her experiences as a governess, was published in 1847. Her second and last novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which is considered to be one of the first sustained feminist novels, appeared in 1848. Anne's life was cut short when she died of pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 29.
Agnes Grey
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Agnes Grey is the first novel written by English author Anne Bronte. The choice of central character allows Anne to deal with issues of oppression and abuse of women and governesses, isolation and ideas of empathy. It was first published in December 1847, and republished in a second edition in 1850. The novel follows Agnes Grey. Agnes Grey has a very perfect and simple prose style which moves forward gently but does not produce a sense of monotony.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is mainly considered to be one of the first sustained feminist novels of Anne Bronte. This novel had an instant phenomenal success but after Anne's death. This novel of marital betrayal is set within a moral framework tempered by Anne's optimistic belief in universal salvation.

Emily Bronte

Emily Bronte was the leading novelists in the Victorian age. She was born on 30 July 1818 and lived only 30 years and died in the year of 1848.her name is taken today as a prominent English novelist and poet and also best remembered for her only novel, Wuthering heights, now considered a classic of English literature. Emily was the third eldest of the four surviving Bronte family, between the youngest Anne and her brother. This novel has been written by her under the pen name of Ellis Bell. Though she wrote less then Charlotte and Anne, she is in some ways the greatest of three sisters. This novel is unique in English literature. It breathes the very spirit of the wild, desolate moors. Its chief characters are conceived in gigantic proportions, and their passions have an element force which carries them into the realms of poetry.
Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights is written in the year of 1845 and 1846. And published after two year in 1847.Although Wuthering Heights is now widely regarded as a classic of English Literature, it received mixed reviews when first published, and was considered controversial because its depiction of mental and physical cruelty was unusually stark, and it challenged strict Victorian ideals of the day, including religious hypocrisy, morality, social classes and gender inequality. Wuthering Heights is the name of the farmhouse on the Yorkshire moors, where the story unfolds. The book's core theme is the destructive effect that jealousy and vengefulness have, both on the jealous or vengeful individuals and on their communities.
George Meredith was the leading name in the Victorian age and remembered for his praise worthy novels. He was born on 12 February 1828 and lived very long up to 1909 almost 80 years. He was an English novelist of the Victorian age. He married Edward Peacock's widowed sister Mary Ellen Nicholls in 1849 when he was twenty-one years old and she was twenty-eight. His mother died when he was five. At the age of 14 he was sent to a Moravian School in Neuwied, Germany, where he remained for two years. He read law and was articled as a solicitor, but abandoned that profession for journalism and poetry. He collected his early writings, first published in periodicals, into Poems, published to some acclaim in 1851.
The Egoist 
The Egoist is a novel written by George Eliot. This novel is a tragicomically type of novel. It got publication in 1879. The novel recounts the story of self-absorbed Sir Willoughby Patterne and his attempts at marriage.  The Egoist was called the turning point in George Meredith's career. Because The Egoist was more famous and popular novel. That’s why we may say that this novel helped him to be a celebrated one.

 at the end of this assignment i can say that these all novelists were prominent in the Victorian Age.