Victorian Literature

[Mizumi-Kun]

Who here likes Victorian literature? If you do, name off the books you find the most favorable.

[EvilSporkofDoom]

Victorian literature is my favourite genre of fiction
My most beloved novel is definitely The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (who's also my favourite author). My other favourite authors are Charles Dickens, Emily Bronte, Bram Stoker, and Edgar Allen Poe.

[Esoteric]

Victorian Literature... Would this be synonimus with the era of Romanticism? Or is that different?

[Mizumi-Kun]

Victorian literature is my favourite genre of fiction
My most beloved novel is definitely The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (who's also my favourite author). My other favourite authors are Charles Dickens, Emily Bronte, Bram Stoker, and Edgar Allen Poe.

I'm reading Dorian Gray right now, and I've read just about everything else you mentioned. Poe and Wilde are real geniuses!

[GhostontheNet]

Assuming it counts, I was very fond of the Sherlock Holmes books.

[EvilSporkofDoom]

I'm reading Dorian Gray right now, and I've read just about everything else you mentioned. Poe and Wilde are real geniuses!

Those two are my top favourites I love their stories and their writing style. What's your favourite Poe story? Mine's probably "The Pit and the Pendulum", but there's so many great ones..
After enjoying Dorian Gray as much as I did, I was hoping Wilde had written other novels, but nope.. he's written plays, which are very good (I especially like "The Importance of Being Ernest" - so funny!), but I just prefer literature in novel format.
Sounds like you have similar tastes as mine - do you have any recommendations?

[Mizumi-Kun]

Those two are my top favourites I love their stories and their writing style. What's your favourite Poe story? Mine's probably "The Pit and the Pendulum", but there's so many great ones..
After enjoying Dorian Gray as much as I did, I was hoping Wilde had written other novels, but nope.. he's written plays, which are very good (I especially like "The Importance of Being Ernest" - so funny!), but I just prefer literature in novel format.
Sounds like you have similar tastes as mine - do you have any recommendations?

I would recommend H. G. Wells, of a lot. His books are so far ahead of his time, it's miraculous the man came up with what he did. The same goes for Jules Verne. Both are brilliant. And, although not Victorian, I would suggest Anne Rice. Beautiful writing that picks up where Dracula stops: the life, demenor, and education of a young vampire...
As for my favorite Poe story, The Tell Tale Heart. Poe poem, Annabell Lee.

[SwordSkill]

Victorian Literature... Would this be synonimus with the era of Romanticism? Or is that different?

Victorian Lit comes after Romanticism, although there are authors that are considered transitory.

and Edgar Allen Poe

Erm, Poe can't be Victorian because he's American (Victorian is specifically British). Poe is actually considered to be an American Romantic (the Americans were always behind the British by one movement in literature, but they caught up during Modernism and equalized). Maybe you are referring to the gothic tradition of Victorian literature as begun by the Romantics of both countries?

I was hoping Wilde had written other novels, but nope.. he's written plays,

He's written many short stories, and the Wilde wit is always present. He has a number of essays as well, the most famous of which is De Profundis, which was written when he was jailed for engaging in homosexual acts with the Marquis of Queensbury (not quite sure if I spelled that right). Anyway, he most definitely was a brilliant writer. And who can forget his famous "All art is quite useless"?

[EvilSporkofDoom]

Victorian Lit comes after Romanticism, although there are authors that are considered transitory.


Erm, Poe can't be Victorian because he's American (Victorian is specifically British). Poe is actually considered to be an American Romantic (the Americans were always behind the British by one movement in literature, but they caught up during Modernism and equalized). Maybe you are referring to the gothic tradition of Victorian literature as begun by the Romantics of both countries?

I'm not sure about that - the Victorian era generally refers to the period during the reign of Queen Victoria]He's written many short stories, and the Wilde wit is always present. He has a number of essays as well, the most famous of which is De Profundis, which was written when he was jailed for engaging in homosexual acts with the Marquis of Queensbury (not quite sure if I spelled that right). Anyway, he most definitely was a brilliant writer. And who can forget his famous "All art is quite useless"? [/QUOTE]

I've read De Profundis, but it's not a novel since it's not a work of fiction; it's more autobiographical, and is an account of his time in prison (part of it is in the form of a letter addressed to his lover, Bosie, the Marquis of Queensbury). He's written children's fairy-tales as well, but as far as I know, he hasn't written any other novels. Teleny,a homoerotic novel, has been attributed to him, but there isn't concrete proof that he wrote it. I haven't read it myself, though.

Sorry if I'm coming across as didactic about some things; I just get really picky about technicalities. Feel free to enlighten me if my reasoning is specious.

[EvilSporkofDoom]

I would recommend H. G. Wells, of a lot. His books are so far ahead of his time, it's miraculous the man came up with what he did. The same goes for Jules Verne. Both are brilliant. And, although not Victorian, I would suggest Anne Rice. Beautiful writing that picks up where Dracula stops: the life, demenor, and education of a young vampire...
As for my favorite Poe story, The Tell Tale Heart. Poe poem, Annabell Lee.

I should definitely check out more of H.G. Wells - I've only read The Invisible Man, which is awesome - quite an imagination he has.
I haven't read anything from Jules Verne yet, which is embarrasingly to admit because of how notable his works are - but I'll definitely make a note to read some of his stuff.

I'm a fan of Anne Rice as well ^_^ admittedly, I don't like her recent novels as very much, but her earlier ones were very enjoyable. My favourites from the Vampire Chronicles are Interview with a Vampire and Tale of the Body Thief.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

H.G. Wells is great! my favourite scicene-fiction novel is War of the Worlds and the rest are very good also. Jules Verne is also very good and Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde is also a very good book. I'm sure there are others I can't remember.

[Mizumi-Kun]

I should definitely check out more of H.G. Wells - I've only read The Invisible Man, which is awesome - quite an imagination he has.
I haven't read anything from Jules Verne yet, which is embarrasingly to admit because of how notable his works are - but I'll definitely make a note to read some of his stuff.

I'm a fan of Anne Rice as well ^_^ admittedly, I don't like her recent novels as very much, but her earlier ones were very enjoyable. My favourites from the Vampire Chronicles are Interview with a Vampire and Tale of the Body Thief.

I've only read Interview With The Vampire, and because our scenic regional library doesn't carry anything else but that and The Vampire Armand, I really can't continue the series.

[Mizumi-Kun]

H.G. Wells is great! my favourite scicene-fiction novel is War of the Worlds and the rest are very good also. Jules Verne is also very good and Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde is also a very good book. I'm sure there are others I can't remember.

I love H.G. Wells! One of the best authors in history!

[Mizumi-Kun]

H.G. Wells is great! my favourite scicene-fiction novel is War of the Worlds and the rest are very good also. Jules Verne is also very good and Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde is also a very good book. I'm sure there are others I can't remember.

I totally forgot about Robert Louis Stevenson! (Slaps himself in forehead.)

[harina]

I like Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. The Signal Man is also Dickens', it's a ghost story. ^___^

Les Misérales isn't Victorian, is it?

[EvilSporkofDoom]

Actually, yes, Les Misérables would be considered Victorian because Victor Hugo wrote it in 1862, and the Victorian era lasted until the late nineteenth-century.

[Mizumi-Kun]

I like Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. The Signal Man is also Dickens', it's a ghost story. ^___^
Les Misérales isn't Victorian, is it?

Yes, Victor Hugo is very Victorian. Another one I forgot...

[harina]

Ok... i just thought that only English stuff can be Victorian.

Alice's Adventures In Wonderland was pulished 1907, so does that count? ^___^;

[EvilSporkofDoom]

Ok... i just thought that only English stuff can be Victorian.

Nope, anything during the Victorian Era was Victorian.

[quote]Alice's Adventures In Wonderland was pulished 1907, so does that count? ^___^]
Hmm.. techinally, yes, because although Queen Victoria's reign ended in 1901, the Victorian Era wasn't considered over until World War I started, which was a little after 1910.

By the way, your avatar is adorable

[Kokhiri Sojourn]

I haven't thus read a lot of Victorian Literature. To remedy that problem (and because my favorite teacher in the world is teaching it) I am taking Victorian British Literature next semester in college. Here are the novels on the reading list, and this doesn't count poetry:

* Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
* Hard Times - Charles Dickens
* Middlemarch - George Eliot
* Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
* The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
* The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde
* Dracula - Bram Stoker

I'm pretty excited about it, and I'm sure that Poe and Tennyson and Arnold - all of them- will be included.

[harina]

Nope, anything during the Victorian Era was Victorian.

Ok.. i was just thinking about SwordSkill's comment "Victorian is specifically British".

By the way, your avatar is adorable

Thank you. ^___^ I like it also.

[EvilSporkofDoom]

Ok.. i was just thinking about SwordSkill's comment "Victorian is specifically British".

I refuted that point in a previous post...

[SwordSkill]

Nope, anything during the Victorian Era was Victorian.

I'm afraid I would have to be the one apologizing for being picky and technical. I've always seen (and still do) Victorian literature as specifically literature of the British Empire written during Queen V.'s reign...after all, Britain and the British colonies were the only ones under her reign. I don't believe the French and the Americans would appreciate having their own literature called Victorian, under the name of a foreign queen when they had their own respective governments and their own literary movements during that time. After all, that period in British literature was called Victorian because she was the one who sat on the throne of England (not of the world, mind)...the same way the term "Elizabethan literature" works (....unless you would call Wu Cheng-en's epic Xiyouji a member of Elizabethan literature just because it was written in the late 1500's, never mind that it was written in China during the Ming dynasty).

Anyway, that's just me talking after being pounced on by my professors a million times for not being specific enough in my use of terminology.

And maybe a bit of my postcolonial tendencies too.

Whatever the case, just bear with me and my stuffiness. //bows// I'm rather anal that way. I promise I won't bring it up again.

And, erm...I never said that De Profundis was a novel.

//everyone glares at SwordSkill//

Okay, shutting up now.