Victorian literature was produced during Queen Victoria's reign from 1837 to 1901. It was a transitional period between Romanticism and 20th century literature. The 19th century was considered a high point for British literature as well as other countries. Novels became very popular during this time. Some of the most famous Victorian novelists included Charles Dickens, William Thackarey, the Bronte sisters, and Anthony Trollope. Victorian novels often portrayed difficult lives with idealized resolutions through hard work, love, and luck. Children's literature also grew as an industry during this period as childhood began to be recognized and education became compulsory.

1. Victorians
Lucy Pearce

2. Overview
• Victorian literature is the literature produced during the reign of
Queen Victoria (1837–1901).
• It forms a link and transition between the writers of the romantic
period and the very different Literature of the 20th century. Along
with romance novels, there were many horror novels written as
well.
• The 19th century is often regarded as a
high point in British literature as well as in
other countries such as France, the United States and Russia. Books,
and novels in particular,
became ubiquitous, and the "Victorian
novelist" created legacy works with
continuing appeal.

3. Novelists
• Charles Dickens- Dickens is still one of the most popular and read authors
of that time. His first real novel, The Pickwick Papers, written at only
twenty-five, was an overnight success, and all his subsequent works sold
extremely well.
• William Thackarey was Dickens's great rival at the time. With a similar
style but a slightly more detached, acerbic and barbed satirical view of his
characters, he also tended to depict situations of a more Middle class
flavour than Dickens. He is best known for his novel Vanity Fair, subtitled A
Novel without a Hero. Anthonu Trollope tended to write about a slightly
different part of the structure, namely the landowning and professional
classes.
• The Bronte sisters - Anne, Charlotte and Emily Bronte had time in their
short lives to produce masterpieces of fiction although these were not
immediately appreciated by Victorian critics. Wuthering Heights, Emily's
only work, in particular has violence, passion, the supernatural,
heightened emotion and emotional distance, an unusual mix for any novel
but particularly at this time.

4. The Style of the Victorian Novel
• Victorian novels tend to be idealized portraits
of difficult lives in which hard work, love and
luck win out in the end. While this formula
was the basis for much of earlier Victorian
fiction, the situation became more complex as
the century progressed.

5. Children’s Literature
• The Victorians are credited with 'inventing childhood',
partly via their efforts to stop child labour and the
introduction of compulsory education.
• As children began to be able to read, literature for
young people became a growth industry, with not only
established writers producing works for children (such
as Dickens' A Child’s History of England).