York Notes Companions: Victorian Literature

An accessible and wide-ranging introduction to the era, this companion explores influential dramatic works by Ibsen, Shaw and Wilde; the poetry of mourning; novelistic genres, including social problem novels and sensation fiction; and the literature of the fin de siecle's aesthetes and decadents. Cultural and historical debates  focussing on empire, national identity, science and evolution, print culture and gender  supply essential context alongside discussion of relevant critical theory.