The Victorian Novel

The Victorian Age, which spans the years of Queen Victoria's reign (1837-1901) generated an immense amount of creative energy, as demonstrated in the enormous productivity of the English novelists. Major influential authors, including Charles Dickens, The Brontes, Anthony Trollope, George Eliot, Mrs. Elizabeth Gaskell, William Makepeace Thackeray, and Thomas Hardy all appeared during this prolific period. This was the first time in which the novel attained the critical esteem of other types of literature, and surpassed them in popular appeal. The rich and varied Victorian novels, which reflect the complexity of such a paradoxical and influential epoch, hold significant, timely appeal for the modern reader.