英国文学史及选读课件9TheVictoriaAge.pptVIP

The Victorian Age  Objectives 1. To have the basic knowledge about the brief history of the Victorian Period. 2. To be familiar with Charles Dickens’ writing styles and major contribution to English literature. 3. To know something about Bronte Sisters and their representative works: Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights Contents The Background Charles Dickens and his position in British literature Bronte Sisters and their writings Historical Background(1832-1868) -- began with the passage of the Reform Bill in 1832 and closed at the end of the Boer War in 1902. Victoria age: Between the queen Victoria’s accession in 1837 and her death in 1901. She ruled for 63 years, the longest in English history. It can be divided into 2 periods: - Early Victoria Period （1832-1868） - Late Victoria Period （1869-1902） Politically a period of great social unrest (Chartist Movement 1838-48); Reform Bill (1832) was enacted, giving right to representation of growing cities and 50% raise of electorate to middle class. Economically An age of prosperity and progress －the richest and most powerful; －the 1st urban and industrial society in the world; －The development of science and technology: railways, telegraphs, journalism; Culturally － 97% people able to read by 1900; － cheaper paper; － faster printing; － easier circulation; － more working readers demanding cheap literature: Literarily poetry Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892): poet laureate Robert Browning (1812-1889) Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) Novel A Golden Age of Novel：(Critical) realist novels Critical realism flourished as a literary current. *Critical Realism The English critical realists of the 19th century flourished in the forties and in the beginning of fifties. The realists set themselves the task of criticizing capitalist society from a democratic viewpoint and delineated the crying contradictions of bourgeois reality. Critical realists reveal the social re