The Novelist of Victorian Age......

 The Novelist of Victorian age…..

Name : Radha B. Ghevariya 

Std. : M.A. SEM-2

Sub : Victorian Literature

Roll no : 22 

Topic : The Novelist of Victorian age…..

Submitted to : Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English 

INTRODUCTION

             The Victorian era or the age of Tennyson covers the period  from 1832 to 1887 .  The  reign of queen Victoria extends from 1837 to 1901  but literary movement  rarely coincide with the exact year of a royal  accession or death . During the last decade of the nineteenth century the ideas which were upheld by  the Victorians or more precisely by their mouthpiece , lord  Alfred Tennyson were put to the anvil.

        Coleridge, Shelly , Keats, Byron and Scott had passed away , and it seemed as if there were no writers  in England to fill their written in 1835,

“ Like  clouds that rake the

mountain summits,

or waves that own no

curbing hand,

how fast has brother

followed brother,

from sunshine to the

unless land !”

                 The Victorian age  is one of the  most remarkable periods in the history of England. it  was an era of material affluence , political consciousness , democratic reforms , industrial and mechanical progress , scientific advancement , social  unrest , educational  expansion, empire building and religious uncertainty.

          The Victorian age was essentially a period of peace and prosperity for  England . The Victorian age was one of the most remarkable periods  the  history of English literature . it witnessed the flowering of poetry in the hands of a host of poets , great and small . it marked the growth of the English novel , and laid the foundation of English prose on a surer footing.

* The novelist of Victorian Age

1)Charles Dickens

2)William Makepeace Thackeray

3)Charlotte Bronte

4)Emily Bronte

5)Anne Bronte

6)George Meredith

7)George Eliot

8)Thomas Hardy

9)Anthony Trollope

10) Charles Kingsley’s

1)Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

              Charles dickens was born on February 7,1812 at 357 mile and terrace , commercial road landport portsea in Hampshire . his father john dickens , was a clerk in the navy pay office . it was difficult for his father to make both ends after straggling with them in his native town for many years , he shifted to London and later on to Chatham when dickens was nine years of age . it was in the atmosphere of Chatham that dickens had his early schooling . he was found of books and devoted himself to his studies with heart and soul.

                His father was also set free and dickens joined the Willington house academy of the age of fifteen . it was worthless and brutal school and its head master was a most ignorant fellow and a targant . he learned little  at this place , but the  experience he gained proved a fruitful source for him in writing Nicholas Nickleby.   

            After his return from the continent , dickens brought out his novels as such as,

-        David Copperfield

-        Dombey and Sons

-        Great Expectations

              He died in 1870 , over his unfinished Edwin Drood and was laid to rest in west minister Abbey  “no death since 1866”, wrote Carlyle to his wife .

             “has fallen on me with such a stroke ,

The good , the gentle , high gifted .

Over friendly and noble dickens- every

Inch of him an honest man”

             Charles dickens was undoubtedly the greatest of the Victorian novelist . he was a great genius and both as a novelist and a popular entertainer , he ranked very high ,

“he is the novelist of his school”

             Says David cencil in early Victorian novelists,

“whose popularity has suffered no sensible

Decline , he is not only the most famous of

The Victorian novelists , he is the most typical

,if we are to see the distinguishing virtues and

Defects of his school at their clearest , we  must

Examines dickens”

·      Novels of Dickens

-        Pickwick papers

-        Oliver twist

-        Nicholas Nickleby

-        Old curiosity shop

-        Barnaby rudge

-        Martin Chuzzlewit

-        Dombey and son

-        David Copperfield

-        Bleak House

-        Hard Times 

-        A Tale of two cities

-        Edwin Drood

-        Little Dorrit

1)Great Expectation

         Great expectation deals with the adventures of a young boy pip and is one of the gripping novels of dickens . it is novel of adventure , the sort of adventure that might well happen to a person who got himself mixed up with questionable characters, in such a sort as this , close to the convict – ships or in what really were in those days the wilds of London . pip has narrow escapes , and goes through many recking experience ; he has to be prepared for acts of violence , and before the end his manhood is put to the proof in a way unusual in a novel by dickens.

        The characters of this novels are remarkably drawn , and Joe Gargery , the simple hearted industrious worker , and the dear relative of ‘pip’ is among the finest character of Dickens. Abel Magwitch , the convict , who secretly support pip for for he had   helped him once, is another study in criminology . the heart of a criminal moved to feelings of gratefulness by the kindly act of pip in providing him food is presented with a touching fineness . Miss Havisham is an interesting picture of an aristocratic lady. These character have won a lasting place for Dickens among master of character portrayal.

2)Bleak House

        Dickens ‘ next novel bleak house was published in 1853. It is a vigorous satire on the abuses of the old court of chancery, the delays and cost of which brought misery and rain on its suitors. The tale centres in the fortune of an  uninteresting couple , Richard carstone , a fatile youth and his amible cousin ada dare .there are numerous comic touches in the novel . no better exposure of the delays andinquities of the law court is found in Victorian novels than in this work.

·      Dicken’s Contribution

-        Plot – construction

-        Realism

-        A moralist

-        A social Reformer

-        Humour and pathos

        To sum up in the words of comptop- Rickett,

“He lulls by the familiarity of his setting into the belief that he is a realist . but his realism lies on the surface and his picture of London life are magnificent pieces of idealised description, sometimes as fantastic as a passage from Notre name”

     At the same times Dickens ‘ word is alive and person who have not seen London take it to be real.

3)William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863)

           

-: Life:-

W.M.Thackeray was born in 1811 , in Calcutta , where his father held a civil position under the Indian government . when the boy was five year old his father died and his mother returned with her child to England . presently she married again and Thackeray was sent to the famous character house school , of which he has given us  vivid picture in the newcomers.

          In 1829 Thackeray entered trinity college , Cambridge , but left afterb less than two year , without taking a degree , and went Germany and france . where he studied with the idea of becoming artist. In 1832 he comes into possession of a comfortable  fortune, returned to England , and settled down in the temple to study law. Soon he began to dislike the profession intensely , and we have in pendennis a reflection of his mental attitude towards the law and the young men who studied it.

        Thackeray began his literary career by writing satire on society for fruser’s magazine , this was the beginning of his success ; but though the yellowplush paper’s , the great hoggarty diamond , Catherine , the fitz boodlers , the book of snobs , barry Lyndon , and various immature works made him known to a few readers of punch and of fraser’s magazine , it was not till the publication of vanity fair (1847-1848) that he began to be recongnized as one of the great novelist of the day.

              After the moderate success of vanity fair Thackeray wrote the three novels of his middle life upon which his fame chiefly rests, pendennis in 1850 , henry esmond in 1852 and the newcomes in 1855.thackeray began his literary career by making contributions to periodicals and magazines . most of his early work found station in fraser’s magazines , the new monthly magazine , times , and the other papers.

·      Novels of Thackeray

-        Barry Lyndon (1844)

-        Vanity fair(1847-1848)

-        The history of pendennis(1848-1850)

-        Hennery esmond(1852-1853)

-        The newcomes(1854-1855)

-        The Virginians(1858-59)

·      Vanity fair

                    The first great novel of Thackeray that created a stir in the Victorian world was vanity fair , a novel without a hero in this great work the novelist portrayed realistically and graphically the life of the upper middle class people round about the period of the Napoleonic wars culminating in the battle of waterloo. Instead of presenting the glories of the battlefield and the heroic encounters of warriors who won victory for England , Thackeray concentrated on the presentation of the life of confused panic stricken civilians in brassells.in vanity fair we come across in Thackeray own words “ a set of people living without god in the world, greedy , pompous men perfectly well satisfied for the most part and at ease about their superior nature”the characters of this novel are mediocreas there is no hero of the dimension of henary esmond . all the male characters expect nubbin are deficient in heroic conduct.the change of cynicism is brought against Thackeray , for here he belittles grand virtues by associating goodness with pettiness of character . in this novel the good people are all fools, and the palm is borne away . the novelist gloats as he says; “how very weak the very wise how very small the very great are” . not only is Thackeray cynical in vanity fair , but he is equally a satirist , castigating the vices and the follies of mankind vanity fair is a satire on romance and sentiment , a reaction against scott lytton and dickens all at once.it is a satire at the some time on contemporary society , for though the scene is laid some thirty year back , the teaching is anmistakably applicable to the writer’s own times . in those passages of vanity fair where Thackeray recurs to his text and explain his meaning of vinitus vanitatum , the drift of the social satire seems to lie within well established and almost conventional bounds.the style of vanity fair is flexible , trenchant and lively , sometimes impassioned and nobly eloquent . it has a strength and a sureness of creative touch which stamp it as the decisive work of a writer who , once gives full expression to his genius.

4) Charlotte Bronte

-: life :-

                Charlotte bronte , Emile bronte,and anne bronte the bronte sister occupy a distinctive place in the history of English fiction . they were pioneer leaders in the field of romanticising English fiction and concentrating on the revelation of the soul and the inner working of the human spirit . instead of presenting the picture of a society or group of people such as we field in june austen and the earlier novelists , they were most familiar . they brought about the imaginative revival of fiction and gave it the colour of poetry and passion. They introduced passion , imagination and nature in fiction and made it a thing of wonder and delight of the bronte sister charlotte bronte was the eldest and here with her work in fiction that we are works in fiction that we are now primarily concerned .

·      Novels of Charlotte Bronte

           Charlotte bronte began her literary career as a poetess and then drifted to novel writing . she wrote four novels in succession her fame rests on jane eyre , shiriey ,vilette and the professor. They are her lasting contribution to English fiction.

“there is emphatically a recurring pattern in charlotte bronte literary carpet as regards their matter : yorkshire and brassels and governess , the tator and the school are often repeated interwoven with the cleric millowner .in manner a similar recurrence exist , for in all and the novels except Shirley , the story is told in the first person , and a deeper unity , in achieved by the consistent theme , which is always the conflict between high intergrity and worldliness”

-        Jane eyre (1847)

-        Shirley(1849)

-        Villette(1853)

-        The professor(1857)

 5) Emily Bronte

             Emily bronte (1818-1848)the younger sister of charlotte bronte is a unique personality in the history of Victorian literature . element shorter who knew her intimately called her “the sphinx of our modern literature” . Emily bronte was in all point sharper and bleaker than charlotte bronte.Emily bronte was a poet and novelist speaking of her verses . charlotte observed , of its starting excellence I an deeply convinced ……..the pieces are short , but they are very genuine , they stirred my heart like the sound of a trumpt ………condemned energy , clearness, finish – strange strong pathos are their characteristics a sombre and majestic music sounds through her lines.

6)  Anne Bronte

              Anne bronte was the youngest of the bronte sisters.her main works are ages grey (1847) and the tenant of wildfell hall (1848).these two works are inferior in quality in comparison to the works of Charlotte and Emily bronte.

·      The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

          The tenat of wildfell hall provides an interesting  study of a drunkard who meets his tragic and because of his excessive addition to liquor . the chief character , the drunkard is Arthur huntingdon. Anne bronte present the life of this drunkard in great detail . the very shape of the drunkard’s head with its depressed crown marked by rich, curls , his florid complexion and full lips , his low chuckling laugh , when hlen justly accuses him , his sick peevishness after a drinking bout , his essential lightness of head and heart , sodawater breakfast and brandy luncheons , his alternate insolence and yearning towards his wife , his bousted infidelities-no-other handing of this subject in fiction has exceeded these keenly observed and strongly portrayed details in truth and impressiveness.

7) George Meredith (1828-1909)

            George Meredith born in 1828 in Hampshire of English family with welsh and irish ancestors , passed two years as a schoolboy in germany studied law, married the daughter of Thomas l. peacock gave up and jouenalism , collected his poem in  volume (1851) collaborated in several-periodicals , among them the fortaightly reviews which he directed for ssome time : for the publishing house of chapman and hall.

·      Novels of Meredith

-        The slaving of shagpat( 1856)

-        Evan Harrington((1861)

-        Roda fleming(1865)

8) George Eliot

            George eliot (1819-80) spent the early part of her life in warwichshire ,where her father was agent for an esatste , from somewhat narrow religious views she was freed by the influence of Charles bray , a conveys manufacturer and devoted herself to completing a translation of stauss ‘life of jesus’. In 1850 she become a contribution to the ‘westminister review’ and in 1851 its assistant editor , reginning the post in 1853. In 1854 she published a translation of flurerbanch’s ‘ essence of christionity’ and about the same time joined George henary lewes.in may 1880 she married john walter cross , but died in December of the same year , her novels reveals an exceptional  sense of the purifying effect of human trials and wide and varied learning.

·          The novel of George Eliot

-        Scenes of clerical life (1838)

-        Adam bede (1859)

-        The mill on the floss(1860)

-        Silas marner(1861)

-        Romola(1863)

-        Middleemrch (1872)

-        Daniel deronda(1876)

9) Thomus Hardy

               

   -: life :-

 Thomus hardy was born in dorest , educated by his mother and the schoolmaster until he commanded greek and latin and had started his omnivorous general reading ; was apprenticed to an  ecclesiastical architect and by 1862 settled in London with a position but there was caught up in the intellectual aprour of that decade , when orthodox contende with two enemies at once , the Darwinians of local origin and the higher criticism from the continent. Hardy , the prominent Victorian novelist , gave a new depth and gravity to the English novel . he gave to the novel the dignity which had belonged carlier to the epic and the tragedy . he was the creator of the philosophical novel . he gave to the novel a new and impressive architectural pattern , building it carefully with a great  deals of forethought and skill.

·      Novel of Hardy

                 Hardy classified his novels in the following order:

1)Novels of character and environment

-         Under the greenwood tree (1872)

-        Far from the madding crowd(1874)

-        The return of the native (1878)

-        The mayor of casterbrindge(1886)

-        The woodlanders(1887)

-        Wessex tales(1888)

-        Tess of the D’urbervilles(1891)

-        Life’s little ironies and few crushed characters(1894)

-        Jude the obscure(1895)

2)Romances and Fantasties   

-        A pair of blue eyes(1873)

-        The trumpet major(1880)

-        Two on a tower(1882)

-        The well beloved (1891)

3)Novels of Ingenuity

-        Desperate remedies(1871)

-        The hand of ethelbetry(1876)

-        A laodiicean (1881)

4)Mixed Novels

-        Changed man , the waiting supper and other tales

Hardy wrote about twenty novels but douglas brown mentions eight novels to represent his stranght .

“The novels I take to represent his stranght are far from the medding crowd , the return of the native , the woodlanders, the major of casterbridge and tess of the d’uebervilles.to these five,under the greenwood three makes a fitting prelude and jude the obscure an impressive epilogue one more among his novels deserves particular respect , the modest but effective the trumpet major”