The Victorian studies reader / edited by Kelly Boyd and Rohan McWilliam.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Boyd, Kelly.

McWilliam, Rohan.

Series:

Routledge readers in history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Great Britain--History--Victoria, 1837-1901.

Great Britain.

History.

Great Britain--Social conditions--19th century.

Social conditions.

Great Britain--Civilization--19th century.

Civilization.

Readers--History.

Readers.

Physical Description:

xv, 439 pages ; 26 cm.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 2007.

Summary:

New Ideas about gender, race, language, space and material culture have transformed the way the Victorians are being discussed today. The Victorian Studies Reader brings together for the first time the best of these international writings about the period. Not only do Kelly Boyd and Rohan McWilliam consider familiar themes such as parliamentary reform and poverty, but they also look at the mesmerist, the barmaid and the cosmopolitan man about town. New light is shed on the Chartists, the British Empire and Darwinian evolution, while other Readings challenge conventional views about Victorian religion, morality and hypocrisy. Each Reading is prefaced by a helpful commentary placing the work in context.

In their wide-ranging introduction, Kelly Boyd and Rohan McWilliam not only illuminate how the Victorians have been imagined since the death of Victoria, but they also make a powerful argument for the importance of the Victorian inheritance today. They reveal how the field has been reshaped over the last generation by the rise of cultural history and cross-disciplinary conversation, and establish a challenging agenda for Victorian studies in the twenty-first century. The Victorian Studies Reader will appeal to all those who want to know more about the world of the Victorians.

Contents:

Kelly Boyd, Rohan McWilliam Introduction: Rethinking the Victorians 1

Part 1 Periodisation 49

1 / Richard Price Should We Abandon the Idea of the Victorian Period? 51

Part 2 Economy 67

2 / Martin Wiener Can Culture Explain Economic Decline? 69

3 / P.J. Cain, A.G. Hopkins Gentlemanly Capitalism 83

Part 3 Consumerism and material culture 97

4 / Erika Rappaport Women and the Department Store 99

5 / Christopher Breward Clothing the Middle-Class Male 110

Part 4 Society and class 127

6 / Patrick Joyce The Fall of Class 129

7 / Mary Poovey Representing the Manchester Irish 136

Part 5 Space 149

8 / Simon Gunn Public Spaces in the Victorian City 151

Part 6 Politics high and low 165

9 / Jonathan Parry Liberalism and Government 167

10 / Gareth Stedman Jones Radicalism, Language and Class 177

11 / Anna Clark Gender and Radicalism 191

Part 7 Morality 207

12 / Gertrude Himmelfarb In Defence of the Victorians 209

Part 8 Intellectual history 221

13 / Stefan Collini Character and the Victorian Mind 223

Part 9 Religion 233

14 / Boyd Hilton Religion, Doctrine and Public Policy 235

15 / Callum Brown How Religious Was Victorian Britain? 244

Part 10 Science 253

16 / Adrian Desmond Evolution Before Darwin 255

17 / James A. Secord Domesticating Evolution 268

18 / Gillian Beer Darwin's Imagination 282

19 / Alison Winter Science and Popular Culture 288

Part 11 Gender and the family 305

20 / Leonore Davidoff, Catherine Hall Separate Spheres 307

21 / John Tosh Men and Domesticity 318

22 / Ellen Ross Working-Class Family Strategies 324

Part 12 Sexuality 339

23 / Michael Mason Working-Class Sexuality 341

24 / Lynda Nead The Meaning of the Prostitute 347

25 / Judith Walkowitz Jack the Ripper and the Doctors 360

26 / Elaine Showalter Homosexuality and Late Victorian Anxiety 370

27 / Peter Bailey Sexuality and the Pub 380

Part 13 Monarchy 395

28 / John Plunkett Restoring the Popularity of the Monarchy 397

Part 14 Race, Empire and national identity 411

29 / Catherine Hall Bringing the Empire Back In 413.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780415355780

0415355788

9780415355797

0415355796

OCLC:

71808031