Lecture notes
Stevenson + Victorian Gothic Notes (ENGL 221)
- Module
- Institution
Stevenson + Victorian Gothic Notes (ENGL 221)
[Show more]
Seller
Follow
heathersham1
Content preview
The Victorian Gothic & Robert Louis StevensonMarch 9th, 2022 – ENGL 221 (Sam Fraser)
The Victorian Age (1837-1901)
● A period of then-unprecedented industrialization, social change, and imperial growth
● Many in the period embraced this new modernity and shied away from the sentimental
pastoralism and introspection of the Romantic age
○ “Close thy Byron; open thy Goethe” (Carlyle 174).
● Others felt great anxiety about the radically advanced world in which they suddenly
found themselves.
● With industrialization came poverty and pollution; with social change came political
agitation; with imperialism came military action and colonial oppression.
Victorian Literature
● The novel continues to gain prominence, helped by two modes of publication: serial
publishing and three-volume publications (each part of a novel published individually).
○ Three volume: each part is published individually and generally distributed to the
public by a lending library like Mudie’s or W. H. Smith.
■ Thomas Hardy, the Bronte sisters, Edward Bulwer-Lytton.
○ Serial publication: individual chapters appearing in weekly/monthly periodicals or
on their own.
■ Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, Robert Louis Stevenson
● Short serial fiction also becomes more widespread.
○ Arthur Conan Doyle
○ Much of this work is inexpensive and devoted to “lowbrow” or melodramatic
subject matter. So begins the tradition of “penny dreadfuls.”
■ Penny dreadfuls: inexpensive, easy to produce works devoted to
melodramatic subjects. A lot of protagonists were thieves, murderers and
highwaymen. “Low-cost horror/melodrama/crime fiction.”
● Airport supermarket fiction.
Gothic Fiction
● Begins with Walpole’s Castle of Otranto (1764), but does not become widespread until
the 19th century
○ Frankenstein (1818), The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), Dracula (1897)
○ Edgar Allan Poe: a good example of American gothic literature
● Often concerned with antique places, hidden pasts, and the intrusion of something
irrational or unsettling on a seemingly settled world.
○ “Gothic fictions generally play with and oscillate between the earthly laws of
conventional reality and the possibilities of the supernatural … usually raising the
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller heathersham1. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $7.99. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
75632 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy revision notes and other study material for 14 years now