# Those Victorian Novelists and their Novels



## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

How about those "Loose Baggy Monsters" as Henry James put it,(he was referring to many novels of the 19th century in general) and the fascinating authors that wrote them? Maybe they, along with earlier figures like Sir Walter Scott and Jane Austen, can help atone for England's deficiency in music in the 19th century? I've been fascinated with novels of Victorian England for quite some time, but still haven't gotten around to at least one book from every major author yet. Its a work in progress. So far, I've had great pleasure in what I've read and have also enjoyed taking in the data about the major figures of the time.

I'm curious to hear what members on talkclassical have read from this period, and what they like.

Speaking strictly Victorian, I've read

_David Copperfield_-Charles Dickens
_Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_-Robert Louis Stevenson
_The Warden_; _The Claverings; Dr. Wortle's School; Barchester Towers_- Anthony Trollope
_The History of Henry Esmond_-William Makepeace Thackeray

In the near future, I'm going to read _The Luck of Barry Lyndon_, which is by Thackeray and _Dr. Thorne_, by Trollope. I'm also thinking about _A Tale of Two Cities_ by Dickens, _Jude the Obscure_ by Thomas Hardy, _New Grub Street_ by George Gissing, and _The Moonstone_ by Wilkie Collins.

One day, I'll do biggies, like Middlemarch, Bleakhouse, Great Expectations, Vanity Fair, and The Way We Live Now.


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## Musicforawhile (Oct 10, 2014)

I'd recommend these if you haven't read them:
_Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, The Picture of Dorian Grey_

And also H.G Wells' novels like _The Time Machine, Island of Dr. Moreau_


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

There are too many to single out, really, but I'm going to anyway!

Along with *Jane Eyre* and *Wuthering Heights*, you might try Dickens' *Hard Times* (at 400 pages only half the length of his biggies) & shorter novels by George Eliot such as *Adam Bede* and *Silas Marner*; also *The Mill on the Floss*.

Mrs Gaskell is another author to try - for example, *Cranford*; and I taught *North & South* to A-level students and it went down well, especially in conjunction with a thematically-related 20th Century Novel, *Nice Work* by David Lodge.

As regards Wilkie Collins, you'll enjoy *The Moonstone*, I'm sure - but _*The Woman in White*_ has an utterly enthralling narrative line.

I like most of Hardy's novels but my favourites are *Far From the Madding Crowd* (again, went down well with my students), *The Return of the Native*, and *The Woodlanders*. Also, do try his short stories, *Wessex Tales,* which are very striking.

Trollope you've read a lot of already; try *Framley Parsonage* and *Can You Forgive Her?*.

Something lighter? Try Conan-Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories; and *Vice Versa* by F. Anstey, which is so funny.

And from post-Victorian times - Kipling's *Kim* & Arnold Bennett, _*Anna of the Five Towns*_ and *The Clayhanger Trilogy*; also H. G. Wells, *Kipps*.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Musicforawhile said:


> I'd recommend these if you haven't read them:
> _Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, The Picture of Dorian Grey_
> 
> And also H.G Wells' novels like _The Time Machine, Island of Dr. Moreau_


I've read the H.G. Well's but forgot to mention them. They are very late Victorian.

I strangely enjoyed the Island of Dr. Moreau, and absolutely loved *The Time Machine*, which is one of my all time favorite reads. War of the Worlds was not as much my speed, though I recognized it was great. I didn't like The Invisible Man when I read it, but it may have been my mood.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Ingelou, I'm curious to hear more about Mrs. Gaskell; I've seen her name around and yet know very little of her. 

I was told to read The Moonstone before The Women in White, though the latter is even better I hear.

As for Trollope, I find him kind of addictive, so I'm sure I'll get around to those novels sooner than later. Especially the two you mention, since one is the beginning of the other major series, the Palliser, and the other is not far along in the Barsetshire Chronicles. I also really have enjoyed some of his short stories. Father Giles of Ballymoy and The Turkish Bath are both excellent and charming stories.

My choice for Hardy is based on what I own, but I understand Jude the Obscure, being his last complete, is rather cynical. 

As for Dickens, I'm very fond of historical novels, and that's why I chose A Tale of Two Cities for near future reading. 

And before I get to Middlemarch, I'll probably read something more manageable like The Mill on the Floss.

Wuthering Heights scares me off a little, only because I remember being introduced to it in a time when I wasn't ready for it, but maybe now it would be easier to take. 

Have you read any other of Charlotte Bronte besides Jane Eyre? How would you describe it?


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Elizabeth Gaskell was the wife of a unitarian minister in Manchester who began writing after the death of her only son. I find her very humane and sensible and much less 'portentous' than George Eliot.

Regarding the latter, I love *Mill on the Floss*, but would advocate starting with _*Silas Marner*_ as the easiest way in. Although *Middlemarch* is big, btw, it's also rather fabulous. As with all Victorian novelists, you can skip a few moralising passages with no ill effect in order to get back to the character and incident.

I love *A Tale of Two Cities* & would have recommended it if it hadn't already been on your list.

You may be right about *Wuthering Heights*. I never read it till I was about twenty, and then couldn't put it down - but what would I have made of it if I'd been younger? Now that I'm much older, I can see its flaws, but nothing can take away the power of its atmosphere.

I have read *Villette* by Charlotte Bronte. I tried *Shirley* a couple of times, but gave up in boredom. I liked *Villette* when I first read it (in my twenties) & was prepared to overlook its rabid anti-Popery (I am a Catholic) because of its love story and characterisation of a woman's dilemma. But in later life I find it full of snivelling self-pity and the prejudice rankles more than it did. See what you think! 

Ah, clavichorder, :tiphat: you have just made a retired English teacher very happy. I don't get much chance to talk about literature these days. :lol:


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## Musicforawhile (Oct 10, 2014)

If _Wuthering Heights_ seems too scary..._The Tenant of Wildfell Hall_ by Anne Bronte might be a good one, as it's more to do with real life matters. There isn't the mysticism and crazy love story. Not that I'm putting down _Wuthering Heights_, but I can understand it might seem too intense.

_The Picture of Dorian Grey_ is by Oscar Wilde and I think you'll really enjoy it, and it's not very long, it's more of a novella.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Do not forget Mary Shelley's _Frankenstein,_ which is fantastic (1818) or at the other end of that century, Bram Stoker's _Dracula._ Both are fine reads.

_Jane Eyre_ is both more horrible and easier to handle than _Wuthering Heights,_ because the former does not rely upon the supernatural.

Henry James, _The Turn of the Screw._


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

Clavichorder - In addition to those already mentioned, you might be interested in -

Oscar Wilde - The Portrait of Dorian Gray

Joseph Conrad - The Heart of Darkness, The Secret Sharer and Other Stories

Jerome Klapka Jerome - Three Men in a Boat

Rudyard Kipling - Kim; many fine short stories

Just a little later on:

Neil Munro - Para Handy

H. H. Munro ('Saki') - The Complete Short Stories of Saki; various novels

By the way, Ingelou, sometimes I teach two doors along from the newly opened 'Elizabeth Gaskell's House' museum, in a formerly gracious part of Manchester, and I'm planning a visit soon.

http://www.elizabethgaskellhouse.co.uk/


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