This document compares Victorianism and Modernism in literature between 1900-2000. Societally, Victorians followed authority and tradition while Moderns valued individualism and questioning norms. Literarily, Victorians focused on social issues like class and industry using traditional forms, while Moderns reflected 20th century disillusionment through experimentation and exploring loss through symbols. While Victorian literature emphasized cultural and national identity through themes like domesticity and imperialism, Modern literature showed a truer picture of the destructive world through themes like political issues, individualism, and absurdity. Modernism emerged as a reaction against Victorian repression, liberating consciousness through a reality-focused use of society.

1. VICTORIANISM
VS
MODERNISM
Department of English, MKBU.
Paper no.: 110 A History of English Literature (1900-2000)
Prepared by: Jheel Barad

2. I am Jheel Barad
Roll No.: 12 Enrollment no.: 4069206420210003
Sem.: 2 (M.A.)
Paper no.: 110 A Paper code: 22403
Paper name: History of Twentieth Century
European Literature
Topic: Victorianism Vs Modernism
Submitted to: Smt S.B. Gardi, Department of
English, M.K.B.U
E-mail: jheelbarad@gmail.com

3. Introduction
I
Societal Difference
II
Literary Difference
III
Conclusion
IV
Table
of
Contents

4. INTRODUCTION:
Victorian period- (1837- 1901) queen Victoria Reign
Modern period (early 1900’s to 2000’s)
Man's growing mastery of the physical world and its material
resources is a story of ever-accelerating progress. (ward)
20th century was full of Progress and regress which was fruit of
scientific revolution.
Modern Period witnessed two World Wars

5. Victorianism, is frequently used in a
derogatory way, to connote narrow-
mindedness, sexual priggishness, the
determination to maintain feminine
“innocence” (that is, sexual ignorance), and
an emphasis on social respectability.
-M.H. Abram

6. SOCIETAL DIFFERENCE:
The people back then, in the regime of Queen Victoria, were gullible, always
easy to follow and be affected by what authority and society dictates. The
modernist people thought that there must be a time when they can think for
themselves, and be liberated by the chains of society.
Changes in thoughts and emotions
Young Society looked at victorian society as dull and hypocritical and seemd
superficial, stupid and hideous
Post- Victorian period : submission to rules of the expert.
Voice of Authority was accepted in religion politics, literature and in family life
also.
Victorianism had strong belief in ‘the permanence’ of nineteenth century
institutions, both temporal and spiritual. (ward)

7. The Victorians seemed to themselves to be living in a house built on
unshakable foundations and established in perpetuity
The Descent of Man sounded more credible and more authoritative than the
voice of God in the book of Genesis.
the Victorian idea of the permanence of institutions was displaced by the
sense of a universal mutability.
The change of outlook that came with the twentieth century was due to the
growth of a restless desire to probe and question.
Question! Examine! Test! These were the watchwords of the creed by
Bernard Shaw
(ward)

8. Modernism is A strong and conscious break
with traditional forms and techniques of
expression. Modern implies a historical
discontinuity, a sense of alienation, of loss,
and of despair. It not only rejects history, but
also the society of whose fabrication history is
a record.
-C. Hugh Holman

9. LITERARY DIFFERENCE:
Both of these eras made an impact towards the way of looking literature, still their
literature work is very different in terms of themes, subjects, purposes, and techniques.
Victorian Era embraced traditional values and forms as it dealt with social issues of
industrialization and national identity.
Victorian literature themes:
Cultural identity
Domesticity
Imperialism
Industrialization
Class
Science
Progress
Nostalgia
The Woman Question
Utilitarianism

10. While, the Modern Literature era it mostly based on the World. It reflects the
disillusionment of the 20th century
Modern Literature themes:
Loss and despair
Political
Destruction
Individualism
Experimentation
Absurdity
Symbolism
Formalism
The Victorian Literature: social class and the economy
The Modern literature: showing what the world really looked like.

11. Modernism is the reaction to Victorianism because of the repression on the
ideals and practices of the people. Modernism is the point where the
consciousness of the people have been opened to even greater ideas,
philosophies, and possibilities. The people were liberated to reality with the
use of the many aspects of society, pushing it forward.
The Victorian Age recedes in time.
CONCLUSION:

12. WORK CITED:
Abrams, M.H., and Geoffrey Harpham. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Cengage
Learning, 2012.
Holman, C. Hugh. Three Modes of Modern Southern Fiction: Ellen Glasgow, William
Faulkner, Thomas Wolfe. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1966.
Ward, A. C. Twentieth-century English literature, 1901-1960. [London] : Methuen,
1964.

13. THANK YOU