Past & Present: Victorian England

My literary background consist mostly a proficiency in modernism; from African American literature to southern literature I’ve come to understand that most, if not all modernism, focus on “place”. Prominent authors such as Faulkner, Chopin, Wright, Chestnut, and Cather are major figures in literature because they captured a modernist perspective on their region. For Willa Cather, it is the frontier and plains. For Faulkner it is Yoknapatwapha. For Wright it is the Afro-American’s journey from a segregated south to “supposed” freer north. To me, these authors basically took snap shots of a relative young nation—America--- coming into its own, all the while licking its wounds from the Civil War. When I think of “place” in America, instantly what come to mind is these wide open spaces that, in turn, reflect the big picture according to that author’s regional sensibility.

Since starting this course, I’ve learned that Victorian literature is not so concerned about the big picture, as it is about insidious details. These details are purposely planted to turn an American, such as myself, into a proper Victorian young woman. Victorian literature/England is a curious place where nonsense can make prefect sense, morals are forced to be practiced, and one is can be an outsider as well an insider. My first informal blog I spoke about Victorian literature being an investigation into oneself. I was wrong; I’ve learned that this genre is an investigation on EVERYTHING! Everything as it pertains to our existence: man, woman, child, Victorians, Americans, Afro-Americans… Every text we’ve read has this undermining question—do you want to stay who and what you are or do you want to change/evolve into “whatever”? Each author presented us with the “whatever” we could change/evolve into.

Since this genre encompass a time in England’s history where everything is at its apex, to me, its relevance lies in what is to come by recognizing where we are at present and how we came to be here. Dr. Schwartz kind-of touched on this when we were discussing either Coming Race or Time Machine. She made a comment on the President’s mission to invest in science and math, leaving the arts behind because apparently nothing needs to be done to persevere and enhance arts education. Using either Coming Race or Time Machine as a paradigm Dr. Schwartz opened up my eyes to what is to come, if we as nation take the President’s heed to investing mainly in science and math. I left class extremely disturbed. Not only did she add twenty more layers of literary meaning for me, she also clued me into an insidious event happening right in front my face. So many things came together for me after that class. My approach to understanding Victorian England is that it’s a meditation of what’s to come, in opposing to modernism, which a meditation what has past.