Publication date:
31 August 2017Length of book:
312 pagesPublisher
Edward Everett RootDimensions:
229x152mm6x9"
ISBN-13: 9781911454229
Victorian fantasy is an art form that flourished in opposition to the repressive social and intellectual conditions of 'Victorianism'. The author explores the ways in which Victorian writers used non-realistic techniques - nonsense, dreams, visions, and the creation of other worlds - to extend our understanding of this world, and the creation of this world. This work focuses on six key writers: Lear, Carroll, Kingsley, MacDonald, Kipling, and Nesbit. Stephen Prickett traces the development of their art form, their influence on each other, and how these writers used fantasy to question the ideology of Victorian culture and society.
"This book remains the most authoritative study of the literary counterculture of Victorian literature. Prickett convincingly connects writers from Walpole to Kipling and Nesbit to a tradition that see fantasy as a matter of utmost importance to the spirit and to reality." - Patrick McGillis, Professor of English, University of Calgary.
"Victorian Fantasy is one of the few critical works which has lasted, deservedly ...the new work is provided here, in particular on the still neglected genius of George MacDonald, confirms Victorian Fantasy - both book and subject - as serious exploration and powerful experiment." - Philip Davis, University of Liverpool, author of The Victorians in the New Oxford English Literary History.