 | Hatred and Civility: The Antisocial Life in Victorian England Subjects: English literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism; Misanthropy in literature; Literature and society -- England -- History -- 19th century; England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century; Great Britian -- History -- Victoria 1837-1901; Alie; To understand hatred and civility in today's world, argues Christopher Lane, we should start with Victorian fiction. Although the word "Victorian" generally brings to mind images of prudish sexuality and well-heeled snobbery, it has above all become synonymous with self-sacrifice, earnest devotion, and moral rectitude. Yet this idealized version of Victorian England is surprisingly scarce in the period's literature--and its journalism, sermons, poems, and plays--where villains, hypocrites, murderers, and cheats of all types abound. Christopher Lane is professor of English at Northwestern University. He is the author of The Ruling Passion and The Burdens of Intimacy: Psychoanalysis and Victorian Masculinity and the editor of The Psychoanalysis of Race (Columbia, 1998). |
