The Victorians - Laurence Lerner

First published in 1978, The Victorians presents a survey of the Victorian era, exploring the relationship between literature and society through three distinct sections. The first delineates the literary history in two chapters on the Victorian novel and Victorian poetry respectively. In the second and largest section of a series of essays discuss various fundamental aspects of Victorian society: the economic and social framework, government and institutions, the sense of the past, painting and illustration, religion and the role of women. The third section offers two essays which explicitly relate a particular work to the society: one on Dicken’s Dombey and Son and the other on Tennyson’s The Princess. By turning to each essay after the rounded picture of Victorian society given in the previous section, the reader will not only find her appreciation enhanced but will also be enabled to argue back on equal terms in a way that is never possible with the survey of literature alone. This book is a must read for scholars and researchers of English literature.