Oxford History of English Literature
1 primary work
Book 1
This volume continues the story of English literature through most of the Victorian period - a period that in religion and politics, science and technology, social life and its physical environment, witnessed the often painful development of modern England. This discussion of the literature of the period includes not only traditional genres like poetry, drama and history, but some scientific and technical writing, art criticism and religious controversy, biography and autobiography, travel books and books for children from over 170 authors. The whole field is surveyed in the light of present day scholarship, but also in the context of its contemporary background, and against such classical and established precedents as were still a potent influence on author's minds. The book has an initial chapter on the historical background.