Reading Victorian Fiction: The Cultural Context and Ideological Content of the Nineteenth-Century Novel PDF
Preview Reading Victorian Fiction: The Cultural Context and Ideological Content of the Nineteenth-Century Novel
READINGVICTORIANFICTION Reading Victorian Fiction The Cultural Context and Ideological Content ofthe Nineteenth-Century Novel AndrewBlake * ©Andrew Blake 1989 Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover 1st edition 1989 978-0-333-45826-6 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WlT 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Published by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St Martin's Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States. United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-19770-5 ISBN 978-1-349-19768-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-19768-2 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British library. Transferred to digital printing 2002 ForMy Parents Contents Preftue ix 1 The Problem of Literatureand History 1 2 The Interpretation of Past Cultures 15 3 The Context of the Investigation 40 4 Mid-Victorian Literary Culture 63 5 ThePointofContact:FictioninBlackwood'sandTheCornhillin 88 the early 1860s 6 ALongerView:Fictionand TheFortnightly Review, 1865-75 107 7 Conclusion 134 Notes 154 Selected Bibliography 183 Index 197 Preface Thisbookgrewfrom abeliefinthe value ofamultidisciplinary approachto the past which has been fostered by two working environments. The Keele UniversityMAinVictorian Studies providedhard work,muchinformation,and great stimulus to independent thought. The encouragement given by course leadersJohn Briggs,AndorGomme, DavidVincent and CharlesSwann, and by fellowstudentssuchasPhilHardy,Melanie LaingandDorothyBrownhelpedto clarify my thoughts on the problematic relationship between literature and history. The project itself was carried through with the help of a Research Assistantshipin the School ofHumanities, Thames Polytechnic. To allthe staff and students Iworked with in the years 1980-84 I am most grateful; special thanksareduetoValeriePitt,PeterWiddowson,PaulStigantandGarethJenkins. An article based on parts of this study appeared in the journal Literature and History (Autumn 1985), run from the Polytechnic. Others have been generous with their time and interest; Ihave benefited greatlyfrom the advice of David Cannadlne, Leonore Davidoff, Paul Gurowich and Simon Heans. I must also thank LordHyltonforpermission to use the privatelyprintedA Politicianinthe Fifties. Noneofthosementionedisresponsiblefortheerrors andeccentricities ofthe following text. Asusual,societyisto blame:the bookwouldundoubtedlyhave beenthebetterformoreadviceandcriticism,andfrommycontinuedexposureto an academic environment. The confused anti-intellectualism of the present governmentmadethisimpossibleforme,asformostofmygeneration:nothanks to them. On a more positive note, Imust thank the colleagues in the musical world who have helped keep my mind occupied and my pockets occasionally half-full: thanks especially to all associated with The Lost Jockey and Man Jumping.Authorsneedsympatheticpublishers:FrancesArnoldatMacmillan has been encouragingand understanding. Finally,thisbookand the dissertation on which it is based would probably still be thoughts rather than pages without Commodore Business Machines' decision in late 1983 to provide, on the Commodore 64, the firsthome microcomputerwith an affordable, professional word processor. Finsbury A. J. B. 1 The Problem of Literature and History Tothatmythologicalcreature,thegeneralreader,there mayappeartobenosuch problem: the use of fictional literature as historical evidence is commonplace. FromMacaulay, quoting Gulliver'sTravels to support hisclaim that WilliamIII counted the Englishpopulationby sects, to A.l-P.Taylor, using H. G.Wells's characterMrBritlingas'typical'ofthegrowthofvisionarypatriotismduring the earlypartoftheFirstWorldWar,historiansoftheancient,medievalandmodem worlds have drawn on the literatures produced by their periods of study to amplify or to exemplify; to provide evidence of social, economic and political factsand values they have claimedto have occurred in,or to have pertainedto, pastsocieties. Literarytextsaresofreelyusedbyhistoriansandsociologiststhat I we often fail to see the very real problems involved in using them as direct evidence either ofpast or present realities.This studyaddresses these problems, askinginwhat ways literature canbeseenand usedasahistorialphenomenon.It isnot hopedmerely toreachatheoreticalconclusion on thispoint,however: the major part of the essay isdevoted to an investigation of a concrete historical placeandperiod,themid-nineteenthcenturyinBritain,andoftheways inwhich literature canbe seenashaving played apartinsocialconstruction at thistime. The concluding Chapter then attempts to demonstrate the relevance of this approach bothtohistoricalandliterarystudiesand to thestudyofcontemporary society. 1 The nature of the literature and history problem in this period must first be confronted. Historians of Victorian Britain are faced with over-abundant evidence,bothinprintedandinwrittensourcematerial.Somuchofthisexistsas to induce ineven the most sanguine researcher feelings offrustration at forced selectivity. The result is often that aptly portrayed in the preface to Lytton Strachey's Eminent Victorians; faced with this abundance of material, all the studentcando isto 'rowout over that greatocean ofmaterial,and lowerdown 2 ReadingVictorian Fiction intoit,hereandthere,alittlebucket, whichwillbringup to the lightofdaysome characteristic specimen from those far depths, to be examined with a careful curiosity'.'Theuseoftheword'characteristic'isimportanthere.Howconvenient ifthe bucketcouldbringup for the historianawork, oraseries ofworks, which maybesaidtobe trulycharacteristic,or'typical',asTaylorsaidofMrBritling:in citing one piece of evidencefor all,the historian helps to solve the problem of abundance.Itisoftenclaimedthatthisorthatpieceoffictionalwritingcanindeed be seen to represent the typical life or ideas of a part of the nation- that the novelist has achieved an exact portrayal of such characteristic types as the middle-class woman, the working-class man, the Liberal nonconformist, or the Tory squire.' Citationsoftypicalityare oftenthepretextfor the use offictional literatureas historical evidence.Inthe caseofmid-VictorianBritain,G.F.A.Bestprefacedhis textbook on the period with a defence of his use of fiction: Ihave welcomed the help ofmid-Victoriannovelists, where theirrepresenta tionsofaspectsofcontemporarylife,theirdistillationsofcertainofitsessential qualities,seemsharperthanthoseofwritersofnon-fiction. . .'Impressionism' or not, the intelligent use of all relevant evidence can produce plausible generalisations and judgments about matters which, without such alchemy, stay unspecific and unfocussed.' The writings of one novelist in particular, Anthony Trollope, have often been usedinthiswayby historiansand sociologists.Trollope'swritingsareclaimed to befaithfulportrayalsofthe ways oflivingofthe mid-Victorianmiddleandupper classes,andhischaractersareused asexamplesoftypesofpeople.Aptlyenough, Michael Sadleir called Trollope The voice of an Epoch', and many historians agree:OwenChadwick,forexample,referstoTrollope'scharactersandeventsas realities throughout The Victorian Church, and W. L. Bum takes Trollope's characters as typical throughout TheAgeof Equipoise? Trollope, it seems, has oftenbeen seenas'typical'or 'characteristic'insomespecialsense, and hisnovels quotedasprecise, realistic portrayals of the world inwhich he lived. Theuse of fictionherecanbestbedescribedas'naive'.Noattemptismadeeitherto analyse or contextualiseotherthan chronologically,norto assess the statusof fiction as compared with other forms of writing.This study will itself discuss Trollope's workas 'realistic', but not in the limited way in which the authors above have used the word. A briefdiscussionofsomewaysinwhich writersindifferent disciplines have madeuseofAnthonyTrollope'swritingswillhelpto pointoutthe limitationsof suchanapproach,and the necessityfor amorecarefullytheorisedview. Tostart with,arecentpieceofjournalismwhichused aVictoriannoveltoattackanaspect TheProblemofLiteratureandHistory 3 oflate twentieth-century life.IanAitken's column in The Guardian, 19January 1987,appearedunder theheading 'VictorianValues,or theWayWe LiveNow'. DiscussingthehistoryofcorruptionintheCityofLondon,inrelationtoacurrent scandalinvolving 'insider-dealing', Aitken claimed that 1fyou want to get the authenticflavouroftheseedy sideoftheCityofLondon you couldnot dobetter than buy apaperbackversionofAnthonyTrollope'sThe Way We LiveNow:6 Thiswaswritten,according toAitken'sreadingofTrollope'sAutobiography,after alongabsencefromLondon,anddescribestheauthor'sangerattheeventsofthe 1870s: Thestory. . .hasasitscentrepieceaCity scandalwhichcouldwithverylittle difficulty be translated directly into the boardrooms of some of our late twentiethcenturymerchant bankingcompanies.Yetitwaspublished in1875 ... the book isa supremely relevant commentary on those same Victorian Valueswhichwearecurrently invited toadmireandtoemulatebythepresent Conservative government.' Largeclaimsindeed;they areclearlybasedon the suppositionthat Trollope was portrayingaccurately,inaworkoffiction,boththeeventsand valuesofhisown time. A rather more sophisticated approach to The Way We Live Now has been offeredbythehistoricalsociologistJ.A.Banksinhisarticle'TheWayTheyLived Then: Anthony Trollope and the 18705'.& The starting point here is a consideration both of economic history (the growth to powerand influence of City people and money) and more biographical detail than offered by the journalist Aitken - stressing Trollope's feelings during his gradual decline in popularity as a writer; his increasing bitterness led him, Banks argues, to exaggeratethe evilsofthe modem world whichwas rejecting him:the 'realism' implicitly accepted by Aitken is qualified. Importantly, Banks argues that althoughhisrecordingofthesocialaspectofCityinfluenceisasaccurateasareall hisportrayalsofsociallife,showingtherulesandpatternsofsocialconductmuch as they were,his observation of City business is characterised by a mixture of bitternessandignorance.Hedidnot understandhow moneywasmade.but saw theeffectmadeonothers whenmoney waslost,andtherefore thoughtofallCity dealersasliars,cheatsand hypocrites- muchasdoes IanAitken inhisGuardian article.Already 'fact' and'value' aremixinginaway whichshould underline the dangerinreadingfictionforhistoricalevidence:dangerofwhichBanksisaware. Buthisanalysisitselfreliesonanaivereading oftheAutobiography.Itispossible to argue,forexample, that what Trollope was presenting in The Way We Live Now was not in any simple sense a realistic portrayal, but a commentary on contemporaryvalueswhichincludedaswellasthe explicitcomplaints notedby
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