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A Victorian Starter Kit!
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- čas přidán 15. 08. 2024
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The Victober 2023 announcement from Books & Things:
• Victober 2023 | Announ...
Great list! I'd add:
* Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (Carroll). Nonsensical fun.
* The Autobiography of Charles Spurgeon (Spurgeon). A rollicking fun read, indeed a sheer delight to read, from the Victorian era's most popular and colorful preacher.
* The Betrothed (Manzoni). Arguably the greatest novel ever written by an Italian.
* The Chemical History of a Candle (Faraday). Along with James Clerk Maxwell, Faraday was perhaps the greatest physicist (electrochemist) of the era. Faraday inaugurated this series of lectures given at Christmas to youth at the British Royal Institute. These lectures have continued each year since.
* The Communist Manifesto (Marx and Engels). I'm afraid I found it a dry read, but it's good to be acquainted with this short work if for no other reason than its influence down the ages.
* The Diary of a Nobody (Grossmith). Quite amusing, though dated humor.
* The Moonstone or The Woman in White (Collins). I prefer The Woman in White, but others may differ. Good friends with Dickens, and his works were originally published by Dickens, though if I recall correctly they had a falling out. Dickens may have tried to outdo Collins with his unfinished Drood. (Cf. Drood by Dan Simmons for a delicious modern work.)
* Natural Theology (Paley). Not quite Victorian era, but it was often cited by the Victorians. Perhaps most famous or infamous for its design (watchmaker) argument, but read it for much more that that, viz., to interact with such an intellectually gifted person, even or especially if one disagrees, and since it is so influential then and now. Surprisingly written long before Darwin.
* The Picture of Dorian Gray (Wilde). What is art? His preface is controversial to say the least.
* Poems of Christina Rossetti (Rossetti). Lerhaosna guilty pleasure but she's my favorite poet of the era, followed by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. She comes from an artistically illustrious family, the Rossettia. Her brother did a decent translation of Dante's La Vita Nuova that can still be profitably read today.
* Praeterita (Ruskin). Another fascinating autobiographical work. I find it as intellectually stimulating as Apologia Pro Vita Sua. I would venture to say Ruskin is an equally brilliant mind to Newman, though (like Robert Louis Stevenson) Ruskin came from a Protestant evangelical and Reformed/Calvinist background but left it for agnosticism or atheism as far as we know - at least, as I recall, Ruskin wrote nothing or nothing seems to have survived from the last several years or even a decade+ of his life.
* Sonnets from the Portuguese (Browning). My second favorite Victorian era poet after Christina Rossetti.
* Three Men in a Boat (Jerome). Perhaps the funniest book of the era, as Wodehouse was for a later generation.
* The Voyage of the Beagle (Darwin). Of course, read On the Origins of Species, but don't miss this Voyage either (bad pun intended).
* Passages from the Life of a Philosopher (Babbage). Fascinating autobiography from one of the founders of computer science.
* I guess I should mention Thomas Hardy and Anthony Trollope, both of whom I like better than Thackeray, but still I don't much like any of them. I think I regard them in a similar way you regard Dickens. I know I should like them, but for whatever reason I don't, and likely the fault is my own.
By the way, I like Dickens, but I would have put Great Expectations on the list rather than David Copperfield if I could only choose one, because I think Great Expectations is just as good as David Copperfield in terms of literary value, and because it's a shorter read so there's a greater likelihood that people will read it. And I prefer the original ending of Great Expectations, not the ending Dickens's friend convinced him to use.
At the beginning of the video, you mentioned the Victorian era encompasses more than the British Victorians, for it also includes, for example, the Russians and Americans and French and Germans. In that respect, perhaps it bears mentioning non-British writers and thinkers of the era like Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Melville, Hawthorne, William James, not mentioning Poe is understandable though I personally enjoy Poe, Verne, Dumas, Hugo, Nietzsche, not sure if the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard counts or if he's too early for the Victorian period, etc.
For me it’s the way people talk to one another in Dickens’ novels… Whether it’s deadly serious or very funny, it’s always engaging.
Maybe it's time we had an Edwardian April...
Great idea!
Yes please! And an early twentieth century fest.
THE LIST:
1. George Eliot -- Middlemarch
2. Emily Bronte -- Wuthering Heights
3. William Thackeray -- Vanity Fair
4. Charlotte Bronte -- Jane Eyre
5. Charles Dickens -- David Copperfield
6. Anthony Trollope -- The Way We Live Now
7. John Stuart Mill -- On Liberty
8. John Henry Newman -- Apologia Pro Vita Sua
9. Lord Tennyson -- Idylls of the King
10. Elizabeth Barrett Browning -- Aurora Leigh & Other Poems
11. Thomas Carlyle -- The French Revolution
12. Lord Macauly -- The History of England
13. Charles Darwin -- Origin of Species
14. H.G. Wells -- The War of the Worlds
15. Anna Sewell -- Black Beauty
16. Bram Stoker -- Dracula
17. Robert Louis Stevenson -- Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
18. Rudyard Kipling -- The Jungle Book
19. Arthur Conan Doyle -- The Complete Sherlock Holmes
I know Dickens isn't your cup of tea, but I'll be reading Martin Chuzzlewit, his 'American' novel for Victober. David Copperfield is my favorite of his novels.
I think I’m going to read Wuthering Heights. I read two Victorian novels latest month - Jane Eyre and The Belmont Estate, and loved them both. I think Trollope is my favorite . I just love him!
I read Black Beauty due to your recommendation and I am so happy I did! Thank you.
I’m going to be reading a couple of H. Rider Haggard books and then I’ll be starting another of your recommendations (Dracula).
Happy Victober!
You'll probably disagree vehemently with me but my favorite Dickens novel is A Tale of Two Cities closely followed by Bleak House
I've started Victober with Freud's "The Uncanny" about Gothic Literature, and Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre". I'm too tired tonight to watch the video, but will in the morning. I've been looking forward to you, Steve, doing something on Victober for weeks and here it is. Great!
I just got done reading the sign of the four yesterday; I also read dracula a few months back both books I really enjoyed with the way both books wrapped you in their stories and environments. 🙂❤📚
Also a good overview of the Victorian world view, even though it was written in the early 20th century, is HG Wells Outline of History
A starter kit to start the month-how fitting! I began my reread of Dracula last night. It’s always fun to see young Mr. Harker learn the true nature of his gracious host. After that, Jekyll and Hyde and Turn of the Screw.
I've started The Way We Live Now. I'm planning on doing Dracula and Carmilla as part of my Vamptober (which is what I've called a little project within Victober.) I really Polidori's 'The Vampyre' tonight for the first time, which is outside the dates for Victober but I wanted to kick off my Vamptober with that book. There's some potential others, but it depends on time/work etc.
I have started with Tess (reread) and will move on to Trollope The Way We Live Now. Going to be a great month. Will slip old Lytton Strachey in there somewhere along the way for Eminent Victorians. Thanks for all your suggestions as well!
I am so glad to see Black Beauty on your list! I can't believe I didn't think to add it to my Victorian Literature Journey tag. I must have read it more than a hundred times back when I was young--not ever thinking of it as old. Beautiful book.
I plan on revisiting Wuthering Heights. Also, last fall, I started reading Thomas Hardy novels, this month I want to read The Return of the Native and Jude the Obscure. For non-fiction I recently picked up a used paperback of The Making of the English Working Class.
My Victober list is as follows:
The way we live now, The Pickwick Papers, Dracula and Jekyll and Hyde.
All first time reads... lucky me!
I feel the same regarding Dickens, I don't love him but I also definitely don't dislike him so I keep persevering.
Love your videos Steve, hope you're well. X
Maybe it says something about me, but I'm hanging out in the "low brow" section lol. I'll be reading Dracula and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde this month. I've also had a hankering for a little Holmes lately and might revisit a couple of his short stories. I have heard a couple positive reviews of Middle March recently though, and I might have to give that one a try.
Currently rereading (thanks to you) The Way We Live Now. I'm also reading and very much enjoying David Copperfield for the first time. I usally reread The Hound of the Baskervilles which is _cheating_ because of when it was published, but I might reread A Study in Scarlet - not my favorite, but I do love the introduction of Holmes and Watson. I might also read Agnes Grey and I'd like to read The Five, but I just don't know if I can squeeze it in. 📚
Wonderful starter list for Victorian literature. I did not know it at the time, but I was a fan of the Victorians from a young age when, as a boy I enjoyed Black Beauty, Jane Eyre, Treasure Island, the Jungle Books, and more. I have reread most of these, especially the Bronte and Stevenson, as an adult.
I have read "Middlemarch" this year, but I totally agree. This is a fine list thanks Steve. "On Liberty" is a great idea.
Hi Steve! I’m currently reading Agnes Grey for the first time and loving it so far. I also plan to read The Way We Live Now and Wuthering Heights (all of these will be first time reads) I’m very excited!
Looking to get through the ghost stories of Edith Wharton and Margaret Oliphant this year.
Hi Steve, I’m quite new to book tube and have only just learned of Victober. I found you via Michael K. Vaughan. Your video is so informative and deeply interesting to me. I read the Brontes many years ago, but want to re-read. I recently read Dracula. Loved it! Also Frankenstein. I’m half-way through Middlemarch and taking my time with it to savour it (so it seems I unwittingly started my Victober reading several weeks ago in September). I’m new to George Eliot. As companion reads, I’ve just read North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell and now reading Tess of the D’Urbervilles. You have encouraged me to read authors I haven’t read, in particular Trollope, Macauley and Carlyle. Love Tennyson’s poetry. Thank you for your wonderful insights. Truly enjoyed this video. Theresa
This is the ultimate starter kit! Wow...
I have to say your non- fiction selections are exemplary, naturally. I'm going to dig out my 3 volume set of Carlyle's set of "The French Revolution" , I can't find my Macauley, so will look for a good edition, either hardback or ebook. I reread Darwin last year, so will give him a miss this year. I'll probably reread him next year. I have collected Fuskin fir years, do I understand him? That's a very good question!
I'm much too old not to have read Jane Eyre. So I'll be reading Jane Eyre. I read Jekyll and Mr Hyde a bunch of times a few years ago, and do think it might be time to return to it. Such a great book. Thanks for the good video, the nonfiction picks are particularly intriguing, being less familiar to me. Come to think of it, I do have a couple of unread volumes of Ruskin sitting around...
Just finished The Woman in White, now I’m reading Dracula 🧛🏻♂️
I am looking to reading some of these for Victober this year
The Way we Live Now
The Importance of being Earnest
Dracula
Three Men in a boat
This was fun. I haven't tackled any Victorian nonfiction yet, but maybe someday I will. I plan to read The Way We Live Now. I also plan to add some lesser known authors by reading The Odd Women, Hester, and Red Pottage.
And here I thought you were a man of taste, when you said the greatest Victorian novel and held up Middlemarch I was shocked, where was Three Men in a Boat? hmpf I think a response video is required 🤪 Also you are flying a bit close with Carlyle published early 1837 whereas Victoria was crowned in June of that year. Yes I am that picky hahahaha
You are quite right about Jerome K Jerome's masterpiece but I think 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea might even be a hair better. 😄
🤣🤣🤣🤣touche’! Three men in a boat is on my personal TBR for Victober - so there! 💕
I'm doing the group read because I love Trollope. Dickens has never clicked with me either but I'm giving Great Expectations a go this year and the start definitely has me more hooked than previous attempts. I haven't ever read Dracula so that is definitely a good shout for the end of the month.
Not even a mention of Anne Brontë? :(
I'm reading the three main Brontë novels. Especially because I read a horrendous spanish translation of Wuthering Heights years ago that I found in a bookstore in Chile, and I still liked the book. So I can only imagine what magic they've got in English.
I adore the Regency and Edwardian eras. What does that say about me, I wonder?
New to Victober. Sounds fun!
I'd have added Gerard Manley Hopkins on the Poetry section just to contrast the strengths of his contemporaries and how different and original he was himself. Any opinions on Baudelaire and his Fleurs du Mal considering he released it in this era as well?
I'll start the month by reading a collection of short stories by Elizabeth Gaskell. 🌸
This was lovely.
I burned up Victober last year with Middlemarch and Madam Bovary!!
Jane Eyre is on my docket and of course with it being Oct Dracula and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The thing about Victorian literature is the extreme understanding of human nature. Charles Dickens and Anthony Trollope show it all. I mean, The Way We Live Now is such an expression of the good and the oh so bad of how people behave….
I’ve started The Way We Live Now
Which version of The Duke's Children would you recommend to someone who has never read it? Should I read the originally published version or the extended edition?
I am always at odds with trying to fit Tolstoy and Dostoevsky into the Victorian era. They wrote squarely in it, but neither of them feels entirely Victorian. Dostoevsky, with his psychology feels almost modern. Tolstoy at times fits well within the era yet with his realism he's also looking forward to the next century.
I'm still not sure what I want to do about Victober.