A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations (Penguin) - Charles Dickens [444]
first (of six) of Trollope’s well-loved Barsetshire chronicles, set in the fictional county of Barchester. Unlike the socially conservative Trollope, Thomas Hardy’s novels took up themes, such as sexual mores, that challenged Victorian society, and they were consequently abused and misunderstood. Like Trollope, he also invented a fictional though realistic county, called Wessex, for the setting of many of his fictions. His novels, such as The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), or the better-known Tess of the D’Urbervilles (1891), masterfully document a disappearing rural English culture. One more writer who famously scandalized Victorian society is Oscar Wilde. His novella, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), includes a manifesto for the late-Victorian decadent art movement. But Wilde is best known for his witty dramas, comedies that satirized Victorian morality, as in The Importance of Being Earnest (first performed 1895; published 1898). At the end of the century, the novella Heart of Darkness (1899), by Joseph Conrad, is widely considered a classic text on the British imperial project, while The Secret Agent (1907) takes up the world of spies in late 1880s London and includes themes of anarchism and terrorism.
In broad terms, Victorian fiction tells the story of modernity in the West and the values it developed: of the emergence of representative democracy, universal education, the influence of capitalism and commercial culture, as well as Britain’s place in a globally interconnected world. For this reason, as much as for its narrative artistry and compelling accounts of individuals caught in moments of moral decision, Victorian fiction continues to captivate contemporary audiences.