Antiquarian and Classic Book Reviews
The Victorian era ranged roughly from 1837 (the coronation of Queen Victoria) until 1901 (Queen Victoria’s death). This era is known for its adherence to rules of decorum, its contradictory ideas about scientific progress and mysticism, and its works of fiction. Many novelists that are still famous today wrote during the Victorian Era.
This time period overlaps heavily with the Realist Movement and includes La Belle Époque. Novels and fiction written during this time were generally about as realistic as modern genre fiction — some were more heavily fantastical in nature than others. Modern idea of genre fiction also developed during this time period.
Examples of Victorian era authors include: Charles Dickens, Alfred Tennyson, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jules Verne, George Eliot, the Brontës, Thomas Hardy, W.B. Yeats, William Thackeray, H.G. Wells, A.C. Doyle, Thoreau, Elizabeth Gaskell, Anthony Trollope, Anna Sewell, Rudyard Kipling, and Lewis Carroll.
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This particular book I found in a bargain bin in a used bookstore and, when I went to research it, found very little information on it and only about three paragraphs of information on the author. This is a review of Anne Douglas Sedgwick’s The Dull Miss Archinard.
This book is one of the prettiest ones that I have come across in recent time in terms of book design and binding. However, it is definitely a work that should be limited to those that have a knowledge of the time in which it was produced or are studying this specific era of literature or history. This is a review of George du Maurier’s Trilby.
The romance of Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw is one of the most well known in English literature. The narrative proceeds in twists and turns that never lack for dramatic flair. This is review of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights — an essential ghost story as much as an essential romance.
What do you think of when you think of Gothic mystery? A mysterious death followed by a mysterious will? Opium? Scary governesses? Some kind of murder plot? Graves? Estranged uncles? Gypsies? Creepy cousins? Murder? Gambling debts? Estates badly managed?
Did you say all of the above?
This is a review of Sheridan Le Fanu’s Uncle Silas.
It’s an example of literary realism that is widely considered one of the most influential novels in literary history. It’s been adapted many times both for stage and for screen as well as being admired both by Henry James and Marcel Proust. Though it was his debut novel, it’s also considered Flaubert’s magnum opus. This is a review of Madame Bovary.
The narrative is a relatively simple one, but within it Dostoevsky’s writing really shines. This is a review of Dostoevsky’s Poor Folk.
Why do I like ghost stories? I like them because I like to hear stories. I like to suspend my disbelief for that instant why I wonder if they could happen. I like them because I like to read stories about a version of reality that is just a bit off-kilter and unexplained. This is a review of Lafcadio Hearn’s Japanese Ghost Stories.
It’s hard to believe that this year I find myself wishing for rain. We often sit on the sofa and watch the sky darken outside the window, waiting for thunderstorms, sighing when the clouds pass over and the earth under them has gotten no relief. The air remains humid but at the same time dusty and expectant. This is a review of Dostoevsky’s Demons.
This book got mixed reviews when it was published, one going so far as to call it ‘obscene’. What was obscene about it was the discussion of themes and aspects of Victorian life that Victorians were in no way comfortable discussing — including the struggles of the lower classes and their exclusion from even the dream of higher education, the lack of class mobility, sex, sexism, animal cruelty, the destructive power of gossip, bad marriages, and horrible people. This is a review of Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure.
I actually have only been reading Russian literature for a short amount of time and how I started reading it is a bit of story in and of itself. This is a review of Dostoevsky’s The Landlady.
