Victorian literature Summary

In the following essay, Rudnytsky traces the evolution of psychoanalysis and literary criticism in the early twentieth century, focusing on the work of Sigmund Freud and Otto Frank. The first three me... Read more

In the following essay, Mitchell theorizes that there is no compelling moral or social reason for Heathcliff and Cathy not to marry each other, but they abstain from a sexual or marital relationship b... Read more

In the following essay, Goetz examines two interpretation problems in Wuthering Heights: first he examines Catherine's choice to marry Edgar Linton instead of Heathcliff, and then he discusses ... Read more

In the following essay, Smith regards the happy ending of Mansfield Park to be a dismal failure and contends that the incestuous overtones of Fanny and Edmund's relationship reveal the cripplin... Read more

In the following excerpt, Hudson proposes that far from being elegiac and nostalgic, most of Austen's novels conclude with an optimistic expulsion of menacing intruders from the home and family... Read more

In the following essay, Carlson offers a close reading of Brontë's novelettes written between 1836 and 1839 and theorizes that the secret of Angria that Brontë created for her wor... Read more

In the following essay, Groseclose contends that the rape/incest between Beatrice and Count Cenci is the event that controls the The Cenci structurally and histrionically. Groseclose also feels that t... Read more

In the following essay, Macdonald theorizes that Manfred is a powerful revision of Goethe's Faust and of the tradition behind it. Macdonald explains that the central act of the poem, the pact w... Read more

In the following excerpt, Peterson defines Victorian autobiography as principally a hermeneutic and interpretive, rather than a representative, genre and surveys its literary origins in the spiritual ... Read more

In the following essay, Davis identifies the major stylistic and formal limitations of Victorian autobiography, particularly highlighting the genre's strict adherence to linearity and its inabi... Read more

In the following essay, Folkenflik studies the treatment of alterity and the self in autobiographical narratives from St. Augustine to Jean-Paul Sartre, with primary reference to several Victorian aut... Read more

In the following excerpt, Jelinek surveys autobiographical writings by English women of the nineteenth century, concluding with a summary of their contributions to the genre. The subjective autobiogra... Read more

In the following excerpt from her book-length study of Victorian working women's writing, Swindells explores the various literary modes adapted by nineteenth-century women autobiographers (from... Read more

In the following essay, Hackett emphasizes the didactic and socially critical functions of narrative in British working-class autobiography of the nineteenth century. Francis Russell Hart noted that &... Read more

In the following essay, Carlisle analyzes the autobiographical structural patterns, action, and characterization of George Eliot's novel The Mill on the Floss. When in the fifth book of The Mil... Read more

In the following excerpt, Warren outlines the numerous and varied perspectives of early Victorian literary critics. Criticism The period of creative activity that dates roughly from the Lyrical Ballad... Read more

In the following excerpt, Wellek provides an overview of contemporary literary criticism in the 1850s. It would not be unfair to say that around 1850 English criticism had reached a nadir in its histo... Read more

In the following excerpt, Eagleton explains the role of the nineteenth-century man of letters as commentator and interpreter of literature for the middle-class reading public. The nineteenth century w... Read more

In the following excerpt, Trilling examines Arnold's widespread influence as a literary critic. For to be possessed of a vigorous mind is not enough; the prime requisite is rightly to apply it.... Read more

In the following excerpt, Wimsatt provides the background for Arnold's emergence as the most important literary critic of his generation. Feeling and Image came through the eighteenth century, ... Read more

In the following excerpt, Wimsatt discusses the development of English aestheticism and its association with Walter Pater, James MacNeill Whistler, and Oscar Wilde. Aestheticism in England, says a rec... Read more

In the following excerpt, Eliot discusses the critical theories of Algernon Charles Swinburne, George Wyndham, and Charles Whibley. Swinburne as Critic Three conclusions at least issue from the perusa... Read more

In the following essay, Kaminsky suggests that Lewes's worth as a literary critic is far greater than his diminishing reputation in the years following his death would indicate. Emily Dickinson... Read more

In the following essay, Hyder contends that Swinburne's critical perspective was informed by his work as a poet. I A critic of any century is likely to be remembered for his judgment, which sho... Read more