The Victorians Since 1901: Histories, Representations and Revisions

Over a century after the death of Queen Victoria, historians are busy re-appraising her age and achievements. However, our understanding of the Victorian era is itself a part of history, shaped by changing political, cultural and intellectual fashions. From widespread reaction against Victorian values led by the Bloomsbury set, through to the rehabilitation of Victorian literature and architecture in the 1950s and 1960s, down to the present enthusiasm for film and television adaptations of Charles Dickens and George Eliot, our image of the Victorians has changed a great deal. The Victorians since 1901 provides a much-needed survey of these trends in modern historiography. Bringing together a group of international scholars from the disciplines of history, English literature, art history and cultural studies, it identifies and assesses the principal influences on twentieth-century attitudes towards the Victorians. Developments in academia, popular culture, public history and the internet are covered in this important and stimulating collection, and the final chapters anticipate future global trends in interpretations of the Victorian era, making an essential volume for students of Victorian Studies. -- .

Preface - Michael Wolff
Introduction - Miles Taylor
PART I: HISTORIES
1. Lytton Strachey’s Eminent Victorians: The Rise and Fall of the Intellectual Aristocracy - William C. Lubenow
2. The Bleak Age: J.H. Clapham, the Hammonds and the standard of living in Victorian Britain - Stewart Weaver
3. Victorian Prime Ministers: Changing Patterns of Commemoration - Michael Bentley
4. Quiller-Couch, the Function of Victorian Literature and Modernism, 1890-1930 - Michelle Hawley
5. G. M. Young and the Early Victorian Revival - Miles Taylor
6. Culture or Society ?: Victorian Studies, 1951-64 - Martin Hewitt
PART II: REPRESENTATIONS
7. Industrialisation and Catastrophe: The Victorian Economy in British Film Documentary, 1930-50 - Timothy Boon
8. The Revival of Interest in Victorian Decorative Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum - Anthony Burton
9. ‘No Glorious Assurance’: The 1951 Festival of Britain looks at the Victorian past - Becky Conekin
10. The BBC and the Victorians - James Thompson
11. Theme Park Victoriana - John Gardiner
12. The Victorians at School: the Victorian era in the 20th century curriculum - Eric Evans
PART III: REVISIONS
13. Victorian Studies in the Digital Age - Patrick Leary
14. Victorian Studies in North America - Christopher Kent
15. The State of Victorian Studies in Australia and New Zealand - Miles Fairburn
16. Victorian Studies in the UK - Helen Rogers
Timeline of Victorian Studies
Index

Miles Taylor is Professor of Modern British History at the University of Southampton. Michael Wolff is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts