The Victorian Art of Fiction: Nineteenth-Century Essays on the Novel PDF
Preview The Victorian Art of Fiction: Nineteenth-Century Essays on the Novel
victorian.qxd:Layout 1 5/22/09 12:08 AM Page 1 The The Victorian Art of Fiction Victorian edited “The aura of the magnificent novels of the Victorians by Art of Nineteenth-Century Essays on the Novel rohan sometimes obscures the analytic thinking about the genre that maitzen Fiction one knows had to accompany all the imaginative glory. Too often it is only the amusing obtuse contemporary review that Nineteenth-Century gets remembered. From the year of Vanity Fair (1848) until Essays on the Novel Henry James’s proto-modern ‘Art of Fiction’ of 1884, Rohan edited by Maitzen’s important new anthology drawn from Victorian rohan maitzen periodicals gives us the critical work that accompanied and NT ih shaped mid-Victorian fiction. A clear introduction and concise n ee and accurate notes contextualize and enhance the criticism, t eV e and make this a book that should be useful for years to come.” ni tc This electronic material is under DavidLatané,VirginiaCommonwealthUniversity ht copyright protection and is - provided to a single recipient Co for review purposes only. er The Victorian Art of Fiction presents important Victorian statements n i t on the form and function of fiction. The essays in this anthology ua rn address questions of genre, such as realism and sensationalism; y questions of gender and authorship; questions of form, such as EA s characterization, plot construction, and narration; and questions sr at about the morality of fiction. The editor discusses where Victorian y writing on the novel has been placed in accounts of the history of so of criticism and then suggests some reasons for reconsidering this n conventionalevaluation.Amongthefeaturedessayistsandcriticsare tF h i John Ruskin, Walter Bagehot, George Henry Lewes, Leslie Stephen, ec Anthony Trollope, and Robert Louis Stevenson; the classic essays Nt oi include George Eliot’s “Silly Novels by Lady Novelists” and Henry vo e James’s“TheArtof Fiction.” ln RohanAmandaMaitzenisAssociate Professorof EnglishatDalhousieUniversity. Coverimage:“Galleryof theArtAssociation,”1879 (detail).PhotographbyWilliamNotman. CoverdesignbyLisaBrawn. www.broadviewpress.com broadview press broadview press e d i t e d b y r o h a n m a i t z e n www.broadviewpress.com victorian.qxd:Layout 1 5/22/09 12:08 AM Page 1 The The Victorian Art of Fiction Victorian edited “The aura of the magnificent novels of the Victorians by Art of Nineteenth-Century Essays on the Novel rohan sometimes obscures the analytic thinking about the genre that maitzen Fiction one knows had to accompany all the imaginative glory. Too often it is only the amusing obtuse contemporary review that Nineteenth-Century gets remembered. From the year of Vanity Fair (1848) until Essays on the Novel Henry James’s proto-modern ‘Art of Fiction’ of 1884, Rohan edited by Maitzen’s important new anthology drawn from Victorian rohan maitzen periodicals gives us the critical work that accompanied and NT ih shaped mid-Victorian fiction. A clear introduction and concise n ee and accurate notes contextualize and enhance the criticism, t eV e and make this a book that should be useful for years to come.” ni tc DavidLatané,VirginiaCommonwealthUniversity ht - Co er The Victorian Art of Fiction presents important Victorian statements n i t on the form and function of fiction. The essays in this anthology ua rn address questions of genre, such as realism and sensationalism; y questions of gender and authorship; questions of form, such as EA s characterization, plot construction, and narration; and questions sr at about the morality of fiction. The editor discusses where Victorian y writing on the novel has been placed in accounts of the history of so of criticism and then suggests some reasons for reconsidering this n conventionalevaluation.Amongthefeaturedessayistsandcriticsare tF h i John Ruskin, Walter Bagehot, George Henry Lewes, Leslie Stephen, ec Anthony Trollope, and Robert Louis Stevenson; the classic essays Nt oi include George Eliot’s “Silly Novels by Lady Novelists” and Henry vo e James’s“TheArtof Fiction.” ln RohanAmandaMaitzenisAssociate Professorof EnglishatDalhousieUniversity. Coverimage:“Galleryof theArtAssociation,”1879 (detail).PhotographbyWilliamNotman. CoverdesignbyLisaBrawn. www.broadviewpress.com broadview press broadview press e d i t e d b y r o h a n m a i t z e n www.broadviewpress.com This electronic material is under copyright protection and is provided to a single recipient for review purposes only. The Victorian Art of Fiction BV-VictorianArt-F.indb 1 4/21/09 4:49:29 PM Review Copy BV-VictorianArt-F.indb 2 4/21/09 4:49:29 PM Review Copy The Victorian Art of Fiction Nineteenth-Century Essays on the Novel Edited by Rohan Maitzen broadview press BV-VictorianArt-F.indb 3 4/21/09 4:49:29 PM Review Copy © 2009 Rohan Maitzen All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without prior written consent of the publisher—or in the case of photocopy- ing, a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency), One Yonge Street, Suite 1900, Toronto, Ontario m5e 1e5—is an infringement of the copyright law. library and archives canada cataloguing in publication The Victorian art of fiction : nineteenth-century essays on the novel / edited by Rohan Maitzen. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-55111-769-0 1. English fiction—19th century—History and criticism. I. Maitzen, Rohan Amanda PR76.V52 2009 823'.809 C2009-901365-7 broadview press is an independent, international publishing house, incorporated in 1985. Broadview believes in shared ownership, both with its employees and with the general public; since the year 2000 Broadview shares have traded publicly on the Toronto Venture Exchange under the symbol bdp. We welcome comments and suggestions regarding any aspect of our publications—please feel free to contact us at the addresses above or at [email protected] / www.broadviewpress.com. north america uk, ireland, & continental europe Post Office Box 1243, NBN International, Estover Road, Plymouth, Peterborough, Ontario, UK pl6 7py Canada k9j 7h5 tel: 44 (0) 1752 202300 fax: 44 (0) 1752 202330 2215 Kenmore Ave., [email protected] Buffalo, New York, usa 14207 tel: (705) 743-8990 australia & new zealand fax: (705) 743-8353 unireps University of New South Wales Sydney, nsw Australia 2052 [email protected] tel: 61 2 9385 0150 fax: 61 2 9385 0155 [email protected] Broadview Press acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (bpidp) for our publishing activities. Copy-edited by: Betsy Struthers Designed and typeset by Em Dash Design This book is printed on paper containing 100% post-consumer fibre. Printed in Canada BV-VictorianArt-F.indb 4 4/21/09 4:49:29 PM Review Copy To my parents, Richard and Lynda Spratley, both great lovers of the art of fiction. BV-VictorianArt-F.indb 5 4/21/09 4:49:29 PM Review Copy BV-VictorianArt-F.indb 6 4/21/09 4:49:29 PM Review Copy Contents Acknowledgements 9 A Note on the Texts 11 Introduction 13 1. Anonymous, Review of Jane Eyre Christian Remembrancer (1848) 17 2. David Masson, Thackeray and Dickens North British Review (1851) 27 3. George Henry Lewes, The Lady Novelists Westminster Review (1852) 45 4. Anonymous, The Progress of Fiction as an Art Westminster Review (1853) 59 5. Theodore Martin, Thackeray’s Works Westminster Review (1853) 73 6. C.W. Russell, Novel-Morality: The Novels of 1853 Dublin Review (1853) 87 7. Margaret Oliphant, Modern Novelists—Great and Small Blackwood’s Magazine (1855) 105 8. Marian Evans [George Eliot], The Natural History of German Life Westminster Review (1856) 121 9. Marian Evans [George Eliot], Silly Novels by Lady Novelists Westminster Review (1856) 127 10. W.R. Greg, False Morality of Lady Novelists National Review (1859) 145 BV-VictorianArt-F.indb 7 4/21/09 4:49:30 PM Review Copy 8 The Victorian Art of Fiction 11. David Masson, from British Novelists and Their Styles (1859) 155 12. Walter Bagehot, The Novels of George Eliot National Review (1860) 171 13. Henry Mansel, Sensation Novels Quarterly Review (1863) 189 14. Justin McCarthy, Modern Novelists: Charles Dickens Westminster Review (1864) 211 15. George Henry Lewes, Criticism in Relation to Novels Fortnightly Review (1866) 229 16. R.H. Hutton, The Empire of Novels The Spectator (1869) 237 17. Edward Dowden, George Eliot Contemporary Review (1872) 241 18. Leslie Stephen, Hours in a Library: Charlotte Brontë Cornhill Magazine (1877) 259 19. Anthony Trollope, Novel-Reading The Nineteenth Century (1879) 277 20. John Ruskin, Fiction—Fair and Foul The Nineteenth Century (1880) 297 21. Robert Louis Stevenson, A Humble Remonstrance Longman’s Magazine (1884) 309 22. Henry James, The Art of Fiction Longman’s Magazine (1884) 317 Biographical Notes 333 Works Cited and Further Reading 337 Sources 339 Author Index 341 BV-VictorianArt-F.indb 8 4/21/09 4:49:30 PM
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