A History of Victorian Literature

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.