Scarica La letteratura inglese dell'età vittoriana e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! The Victorian Age Queen Victoria’s reign dates back to the second half of the nineteenth century (1837-1901). Her reign was very wealthy and powerful. From a social point of view, the upper class was formed by aristocracy; then there was the middle class (borghesia); the lower class was formed by the working class (classe operaia) which lived in extreme poverty and exploitation (sfruttamento). ● restricted values like work, family and money, and, necessarily, one perspective of life (either/or) The literary context The novel (romanzo) was the most common literary genre during the Victorian age. It had an omniscient narrator (narratore onnisciente, scrive alla terza persona singolare e conosce tutti gli aspetti dei personaggi) with a long but linear plot (trama). Its role was to entertain (intrattenere) the middle-class reader. Novels were published in instalments (a puntate) in newspapers. Aestheticism ● Art for art’s sake it’s their motto; ● beauty above all; ● art has no moral purpose; ● Oscar Wilde is the most representative Aesthetic author in English literature. In particular, the motto of Aestheticism was “art for art’s sake (interesse)” as a reaction against the rigid moral values and the rationality of the Victorian age, as well as (così come) its greed for productivity, money and work (just remember that that was the period of the Industrial Revolution) Charles Dickens Main episode in Dickens’s life: debtors’ prison as (in quanto, poiché) his family wasn’t able to repay his debts. This event particularly influenced his novels (think of Oliver Twist and the topic of poverty). Main works: 1. The Pickwick Papers; 2. Oliver Twist; 3. A Christmas Carol; 4. David Copperfield; 5. Hard Times; 6. Great Expectations. ● the most representative author of the Victorian age; ● realistic novels dealing with the social issues of his time (poverty, exploitation of the working class), except Christmas Carol’s; ● strong moralistic purpose; ● humor and happy ending; ● style: humor and pathos ● Good wins over evil. Characters Names in his novels are often evocative as (in quanto, poiché) they describe either their attitude (comportamenti) or physical appearance. Dickens’s novels are full of pathos as well as (così come) humor and wit (genialità); they describe such a great range (gamma) of human beings, with their own characteristics, that this variety can be compared only to Shakespeare’s, even if there is an important difference between the two, as Dickens’s characters are basically caricatures. Bronte sisters ● exploration of the sphere of human feelings and emotions (unlike Dickens); ● gothic atmosphere; ● Charlotte wrote Jane Eyre, whereas Emily wrote Wuthering Heights. OscarWilde Main events in Oscar Wilde’s life: he was born in Dublin, where he attended Trinity College. He was arrested and sentenced to jail/prison for his homosexuality. Main works: 1. The Importance of Being Earnest (comic, brilliant play); 2. The Picture of Dorian Gray (narrative, novel). He lived and acted as a real dandy and was one of the major exponents of Aestheticism, according to which the only aim in life was the pursuit (ricerca) of beauty (so morality was basically refused). Robert Louis Stevenson Main Works: 1. Treasure Island 2. The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde → the story came to Stevenson in a dream in 1885 (it’s a fictional gothic narrative) and it is narrated from several points of view ● gothic novel or fantasy novel ● impossibility of identifying and separating good and evil, they are like a mixture and everybody has both → like dr. Jekyll killed himself at the same time he decided to kill the evil mr. Hyde, because in reality they are the same person: and also like John Silver in Treasure Island who is a courageous friend and also a treacherous cutthroat (tagliagole infido, perché è un pirata). Duality in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and in the Picture of Dorian Gray ● Despite the prevalence of duality and the both/and perspective in late-Victorian literature the idea of duality itself was not traditionally accepted in late-Victorian culture. Victorians preferred to look at things in an either/or perspective, especially because victorians feared abnormality and tried to hide it. ● The public and private selves in late-Victorian society were supposed to be very separate things, so duality of the self was a social problem in the late-Victorian era. Consequently in private life the worst part of ourselves is dominant. Duality was a very important and prominent theme in late-Victorian literature, as a reaction to the restricted moral values and rules of the Victorian Age. The Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ● Jekyll is handsome and good ● Hyde is ugly and evil → but we realise that this vision originated from the eyes of society. They embodied the same person, so they are both handsome and ugly, good and evil. Jekyll’s apparent social
