Hatred and Civility: the Antisocial Life in Victorian England

Description

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. Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Prologue -- Introduction: Victorian Hatred, a Social Evil and a Social Good -- 1. Bulwer's Misanthropes and the Limits of Victorian Sympathy -- 2. Dickensian Malefactors -- 3. Charlotte Brontë on the Pleasure of Hating -- 4. George Eliot and Enmity -- 5. Life Envy in Robert Browning's Poetry -- 6. Joseph Conrad and the Illusion of Solidarity -- Notes -- Index.