Viktorijanski roman – poetika i kulturna politika 1

1. INTRODUCTION
-the basis of Victorian England is in the nation’s changes and development in the early 1830s

-20 June 1837 – Queen Victoria's ascension to the throne – the official beginning of the
Victorian era
-1832 – the passing of the Representation of the People Act or the Reform Act the first
reformative bill which effectively enfranchised the major part of the middle class (most of
the male population) – the conditional beginning of the Victorian era

-Victorian England changes through every decade individually

2. NATURAL SCIENCES
(...)

-Tennyson's geological metaphor reflects how the society of the era was familiar with
geology
-Tennyson admires Merlin for his insight into the structure of time, which brings us to...

 CHARLES LYELL– Principles of Geology

-published 1830-1833
-facing against the doctrinal implications of the Bible, Lyell is faced with the problem
of explaining the story of time – the inconceivable history of the Earth (the official
age up to then was a couple thousand years)
-proof that Victorian sciences communicated with Victorian arts

-WHY WAS LYELL THE FIRST TO DISCOVER THE EVOLUTION OF THE EARTH’S CRUST?
-the Industrial Revolution – coal mines – the first, unprecedented need to dig
deeper into the Earth’s crust; layer’s were discovered as a marginal addition
to the history of Earth, along with the gaps between them

-the discovery required a narrative that would bring the idea closer to the public –
relied on the average educated Victorian’s knowledge of the classics, and used Ovid’s
Metamorphoses as a basis for his narrative – a repertoire of antic rhetorical strategies
-Lyell ~ philology – functional similarity

-following Lyell’s matrix, Darwin used the Bible and John Milton’s Paradise Lost (which both
give an account of the Genesis) in order to explain the theory of evolution
-Thomas Hardy (one of the Victorian realists) created the term “cultural Darwinism” – the
 Viktorijanski roman – poetika i kulturna politika 2

dogma that cultural life behaves just as natural life; the mental framework of the city and
the country is completely different in development

-both Lyell and Darwin put into question TELEOLOGY – the philosophy that there is a cause
and purpose to the history of human kind, there is a goal to which it is striving – and the
HISTORY OF SALVATION – the Christian perception of mankind
-Thomas Huxley (English biologist) claimed the following on the matter:
-you cannot evade the theory of evolution, there is no grand plan and no prediction;
scientific development will erode the very beliefs of human kind
-however, it is our duty and responsibility to try and safeguard the beliefs, for they
are part of the human agenda, but we mustn’t forget that there is no agenda
-according to this shift in thinking, the interpretation of literature changed – every purpose is
questioned, every narration is re-examined; in order to write about human life, the story
needs to be told in a manner that will not require justification, because there is no way to
justify it without an explicit account

-in the second half of the 19th century, many novelists started taking into account the
interaction between natural sciences and literature

 GEORGE ELIOT – Middlemarch

-published in 1872; covers the late 1820s/early 1830s
-addresses the question of science – the central figure is a physician very much
interested in research, which is described in detail
-the encyclopaedic knowledge is introduced to the form of the novel (up to then it
was only used in poetry)
-from the early 1860s onward, an obsession with knowledge entered the cultural
sphere – different from Jane Eyre and Great Expectations, which both contained
references to literature, science, politics, economy, etc., but not natural/humanistic
sciences; this appearance affects the interpretation of literature

3. POLITICS/ECONOMY/SOCIAL CONDITIONS
-1867 – Marx writes the Capital in London; WHY LONDON - the Industrial Revolution – the
Empire is economically speaking the most developed country in the world = the
development of capitalism went at a faster pace
-except for the Industrial Revolution, the UK also becomes the “Empire in which the Sun
never sets” – a colonial power – how was it that the enfranchising act only came to life at
1832, when the whole of the country was so highly developed?
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-the French Revolution exploded as a conflict between the aristocrats and the clergy
against the middle classes - strict class distinction; the Empire was spared of such a
conflict because of the notion of gentleman – a term referring both to gentry (people
born into affluent and noble families) and to high education; if a member of a less
affluent background were to acquire a higher point of education, she could marry a
gentleman and would therefore cross the gap between the classes (it was not
expected, but it was possible)

-British authors were perceived as authorities in the field of political economy and
development – Russian authors felt the need to refer to them

 ECONOMY - ALEXANDER PUSHKIN vs. JANE AUSTEN

-Austen died before Queen Victoria came to throne, but nevertheless provided the
vision of the previous historical profile of the Victorian era
-EUGENE ONEGIN || PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
-it is unknown whether Pushkin has read the novel, but his lover had
-similarities between the novels:
2 sisters – Jane and Elizabeth Bennet || Olga and Tatyana Larina
2 suitors – Mr Darcy and Mr Bingly || E. Onegin and V. Lensky
the resolution – Jane & Mr. Bingly || Olga & Lensky – optimistic
Elizabeth & Mr. Darcy || Tatyana & Onegin – problematic
-resolved through an episode in which the lady comes
unannounced to the estate of her suitor and experiences an
epiphany
-Darcy proves his value to Elizabeth (who doubts his sanity) by being a FAIR
ECONOMIST (moral and successful); Onegin too needs to reaffirm himself through
political economy; both accumulate a symbolic profit by having a knack in the area

-the difference – Austen’s problematic couple gets a happy ending, while Pushkin’s
doesn’t

-romance CANNOT be separated from political economy; it depends on it – the

characters are introduced through their wealth:
-Mr. Bennet (the father) is worth a low amount of pounds per annum,
and is therefore considered the lowest of nobility (but still nobility!); since he
has no male offspring, the only means of survival for his daughters is to marry
or to serve richer cousins; they have no dowry (“only their charms to
recommend them”)
-Darcy’s love for Elizabeh is irrational (hence the doubt in his sanity) for
because of their social differences, but since Elizabeth’s mother is the
daughter of a wealthy attorney, that provides Elizabeth with a more
significant background – when combined with her father’s gentlemancy and
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“extensive reading” (sophistication through education), it makes enough of a

dowry – education = symbolic capital

 VICTORIAN NOVEL (as an educational tool)

-represented and educated about courtship
-reflected the changes in the political economy of sexuality in Victorian England
-never exclusively sentimental education – combined with politics and economy
-held a more intellectual approach towards novel than that of today
-novels = manuals

-in Pride and Prejudice, the Bennet family devises a sort of catalogue for what is
needed to impress Mr Darcy – “it is important that a girl improves herself by
extensive reading,” in this way she is likelier to get a richer husband and CHANGE –
Victorian novels centre around personal change and aim to affect the reader in such
a manner that a different person finishes the novel from the one who started it

-only with the novel women authors start entering literature

 UTILITARIANISM
-a social doctrine devised by Jeremy Bentham holding that the proper course of
action is the one that maximizes utility, specifically defined as maximizing happiness
and reducing suffering
-FELICIFIC CALCULUS (= happy account) – the greatest happiness of the greatest
number; a means to solving all social dilemmas; the narrative needs to benefit the
majority of people
-a decision is right if it benefits a lot of people in a short amount of time;
consequences are much more material
-a linguistic razor operation – all binary oppositions are reduced to PAIN vs.
PLEASURE – dangerous train of thought, but it formed the basis of the political
thinking of the day

-1830s - the middle classes get enfranchised, adapt Bentham’s theory, create a
division between the state and the economy; which meant that the state was to
interfere in the market as little as possible; the market was to regulate itself
-profit = pleasure
-1840s – the hungry forties – a mass of immigrants from villages flee to the cities –
unfair distribution of goods
-1850s – social issues caused by the felicific calculus
-the states puts boundaries on the self-regulation of the market to ensure sustainable
conditions
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-John Stewart Mill – the son of James Mill, the prophet of utilitarianism; educated his
son entirely in accord with it, which led to a nervous breakdown in the child –
DRASTIC APPLICATIONS OF UTILITARIANISM DON’T WORK

-Elizabeth Gaskell - Dickens’ protégé – Dickens was an editor of a journal of his own
and she was his favourite house author
-lived in Manchester – surrounded by industry; well-acquainted with the life
of the working poor
-wrote ethnographic fiction/industrial novels
-North and South (1855) – a contrast between the rural South and the
industrial North
-set in Milton (a literary equivalent of Manchester), focused around Margaret
Hale (aged 19), who was forced to adapt to the urban mentality
-Mr Thornton – a factory owner who develops a romantic interest towards
Margaret; debates all the fine points of political economy with her
-Hale salvages Thornton’s business by convincing him not to enter
SPECULATION - a risky investment in an attempt to profit from short term
fluctuations in the market; the value of the profit is drastically
disproportionate to the production – UNETHICAL
-in Victorian society, speculation was frowned upon because it was considered
immoral and dangerous
-the felicity principle – Hale’s godfather is the owner of estates in the North of
England who rents to factory owners (Thornton!) – plastic display of all
relationships crucial for the British political economy; tension between the
speculation climate and the industrial production
-stereotype – aristocrats who hate businessmen (they live in view of their own
business – have a direct contact with their work force)

 PANOPTICON
-Jeremy Bentham; all-seeing prisons, schools, factories, hospitals – overall control
and discipline
-a circular building with an empty space in the centre with individual cells; the
partition walls between cells are of normal material, but those that divide the cells
from the exterior and the central watchtower are made of glass
-the watchtower guard is invisible – doesn’t even have to be there!

-enLIGHTenment – light is the agent of this superior control ≠ medieval view – the
dark as a means punishment
- the control cannot be located because it is overall on the person; there is no
fragment of personality left without discipline; psychological effect
-the function of the building is diminished – all kinds of institutions are reduced to
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one single construct and can be approached from the same agenda – the Victorian
world view!

-the Victorians fantasised about control and discipline; this way of thinking
influenced various discourses
-the status of the third person narrator – OMNISCIENT – not all-knowing but all-
seeing; characters internalize this discipline to the point of self destruction
-Oliver Twist – Bill Sykes commits unintentional suicide (accidentally hangs
Himself) as a result of being haunted by the thought of the fiancée he killed
-this literary panopticism also influenced the way novels were read – dissemination
of the novel
-first published in journals and magazines and consumed alongside other
socially/politically/economically relevant, discourses
-affected public opinion and gathered society
-the example of Gone With the Wind – in 1939 (when the movie was released)
Dickens was still perceived as shareable discourse and it was expected of the
spectator to be familiar with him

4. THE POSITION OF WOMEN WRITERS IN VICTORIAN ENGLAND

-women were not perceived as public/political figures, but as figures of economy – they
were expected to be in charge of homes, servants and children

-MANHOOD ≠ CHILDHOOD; not womanhood – this view started to change in the final
decades of the 19th century

-MARRIAGE – guaranteed the social stability between landed gentry and the middle classes
to secure that the transfer of wealth through heritage was smooth and legitimate

-WOMANHOOD – perceived through the regulation of sexuality; the woman has to stay
within wedlock; (only) in the middle class existed a distinction between the good woman
(faithful, angel of the house, forced to self-denial) and the fallen woman; the difference was
perceived through sexuality
-a real woman has no (mustn’t have any) sexual urges; or she will otherwise be
declared morally mad (the official medicinal term of the time for women with sexual
urges); female sexuality was seen as pathology and women were supposed to see sex
as torture (“Lie back and think of England.”)

-there were manuals concerning the frequency of coitus in marriage – for the middle class,
the prescribed “dosage” was once a month, while for the workers it was once a week (they
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were perceived as more primitive)

-the structures of Victorian society were very much class dependent – in the lower classes it
was acceptable for a young woman to become a prostitute in order to gain enough money to
open a business and have a normal life and marriage later on

-women writers tended to choose PEN-NAMES (mostly male) to cover up their identities
(the Brontë sisters = the Bell Brothers, Mary Shelley = anonymous, Jane Austen =”A Lady“)
-when they switched to female pen-names, they still kept their identity a secret, and also
chose names that would create a certain undertone; for example, aristocracy – this way they
were removed from their middle-class origin and allowed to participate in the public sphere;
this need to participate derived from the fact that many of the author(esse)s were
motherless and therefore identified with their fathers
-women authors were verging on a scandal
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning – motherless, her father was a tyrant; invalid – chained
to the bed and because of that relied on education alone (wider range of knowledge),
had a “male education” – she was a poet and intellectual, already established when
she started her correspondence with her future husband, Robert Browning, with
whom she eloped to Italy and was suddenly able to move
-George Eliot – motherless; persuaded her father to pay for her education in
languages and gained the reputation of an intellectual; her fiancé, H. Spencer,
claimed she was “too morbidly intellectual” – she was perceived as a monster; ended
up living with her life-long companion, George Henry Lewes, a married man (whose
wife cheated on him) and was because of that shunned from society – her actions
were perceived as scandalous, while Lewes’ wife’s adultery was not