The Student Room Group
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>

Industrialisation

How did industrialization affect Victorian literature? Are there any quotes/novels which highlight this specific area?
Original post by SeanOsborn
How did industrialization affect Victorian literature? Are there any quotes/novels which highlight this specific area?




That's a pretty general question :redface:



Any texts in particular you might want to talk about? Anything victorian has stuff on it... Dickens is usually a safe bet.
Reply 2
Avatar for SeanOsborn
SeanOsborn
OP
I haven't read any Dickens, I have read fingersmith, and am currently reading Heart of darkness by Conrad and crimson petal and the white by Michael Faber. I don't think I'm going to finish CPATW, so any help with the storyline would be great. I'm more interested on how it affected society throughout Britain, and if it severely affected any authors' styles...
Original post by SeanOsborn
I haven't read any Dickens, I have read fingersmith, and am currently reading Heart of darkness by Conrad and crimson petal and the white by Michael Faber. I don't think I'm going to finish CPATW, so any help with the storyline would be great. I'm more interested on how it affected society throughout Britain, and if it severely affected any authors' styles...




Well, it certainly affected them. It's a key theme ranging from writers as far back as John Clare, though you could argue a slightly contrived case that it goes back as far as the Robin Hood mythos from the crusading era, and the restriction of use of land.


I haven't read Crimson Petal and the White, but Heart of Darkness is an interesting choice. Marlow in HoD sees profit as the focal point for harsh and unfair treatment of the natives (who work for Kurtz's ivory trading), and hints at the factory mentality that was dominant in England throughout the 1800s. Alot of racial inequality is explored in the text that humanises the other race by drawing attention to the similarities of their plight when compared to the factory workers in England. The opening of the novel even, the ship coming into the docks if I recall correctly, has alot of imagery of peace and tranquillity being inhibited by the industrial noise.


Industrialisation affected pretty much every writer in so many ways, but it's impossible to give a 'general' way in which it did because it was so different for each one. Some celebrated it for example, though nowadays we find those who condemned it more easily read. In all honesty this sounds more like a potential PhD or even complete journal worth of work.
it is a major concern of the victorian novel. i would suggest looking at tess of the d'urbervilles in which industrialisation is seen as a negative force. another novel u could look at is the mayor of casterbridge. but really you can see it in many a victorian novel.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you