UVU Victoria Literature, Fall 2021 Dashboard
Description
The Victorian period was one of great change for Britain. Comprised of the years of Queen Victoria’s reign (1837-1901), it featured the rapid industrialization and urbanization of Britain, and the radical expansion of the British empire. Although these changes improved the quality of life for some Victorians, many more were forced to work under inhumane conditions, live in unsanitary and insalubrious environments, or suffered the violent oppressions of colonial rule. While we may think of the Victorian period as a distant, different era, this class argues that Victorians faced some of the same issues we deal with today, including systemic racism, opioid addiction, ecological disasters, and public health crises, to name but a few.
“Victorian Literature and Politics for the Present” revisits texts both familiar and new - canonical and not - through the lens of current events. Addressing a range of genres, this course examines historical and philosophical trends that shaped the era’s literature and were shaped by it. Specifically, it will explore how the Victorians addressed, and sometimes avoided, issues of racial oppression, class conflict, public welfare, and imperial plunder. Moreover, it will consider what parallels and throughlines we can draw between the Victorian era and the twenty-first century and contemplate the value of continuing to study Victorian authors and texts today.
Galleries, Timelines, and Maps
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Individual Entries
William Morris was a British artist and textile designer whose designs from the later half of the Victorian period are still incorporated in many homes today. He did most of his work in the city of Bloomsbury, central London. In November 1856, William Morris & his friend Edward Burne-Jones, moved into the first floor of 17 Red Lion Square, Bloomsbury (Located on the map). Morris’s association with this part of Bloomsbury would continue for 25 years, and his commemorative plaque still stands there today. He once said, "History has remembered the kings and warriors, because they destroyed; art has remembered the people, because they created."
William Morris was also remembered for his dismissivenes about public concerns about arsenic-based green pigments in wallpaper production. In a letter, he wrote: "a greater folly is hardly possible to imagine: the doctors were...
moreMarshalsea Prison was a prison in South London. In the 19th Century, it was home to many debtors, but it didn’t just imprison debtors. Famously, Charles Dickens’ father, John, was held here. He was imprisoned in 1824, when Dickens was only twelve years old. Dickens was then sent out to make money for his family to repay his father’s debt. This experience impacted much of Dickens’ writing, specifically his novel, Little Dorrit.
In Marshalsea Prison, the prisoner’s debts increased with time. The prison was privately owned, like most prisons at the time. Because it was privately owned, the inmates were charged for rent, food, and other necessary items. To add to their debts was the price of having a lawyer or an attorney. Families were often forced to live in the prison together because they had no where else to go. Children were sent to make money to pay off the debts, like Dickens. However, if the prisoners had some money there were restaurants and shops...
moreWhile we tend to think of “asylum” as a place for the mentally ill, there were also asylums that ran during the Victorian era that were rather shelters that provided temporary support to other groups. The Liverpool Night Asylum for the Houseless Poor was a building that provided overnight shelter for the homeless population in Liverpool, England. With the industrialization of the country, many people moved into large cities. But the lower class faced many problems with low pay and support, so there were many who lacked stable needs such as food and shelter.
Despite Egerton Smith’s philanthropic goals in creating the Night Asylum, there was little offered in the building besides cramped wooden floor to sleep on. But it provided a refuge to thousands, who stayed an average of 2-3 nights. It is interesting to note the gender ratio of inhabitants, as there were nearly double the men than women. In a port city such as Liverpool, there were many workers such as sailors who were...