Table of Contents
If you are an English literature enthusiast or if you are a history lover you probably might have heard about the Victoria era. The Victoria era is termed to be the reign period of Queen Victoria 1837-1901. The Victorian era was the golden period of English literature. English literature grew to height during the Victorian era. The novel as a genre got popularised in this era. The British enhancement of English literature provided great novels to the literary world during this time. Through this blog let us look into the Top 10 classic Victorian novels. The top 10 list may change according to person to person and website to website. But if you look into the major novels of the time it will have all of these novels.
Oliver Twist
The Oliver twist or the alternatively titled The Parish Boys Congress, is a novel written by Charles Dickens. This is the second novel of Charles Dicken which has been published as a series from 1837 to 1839. This is the second novel published in the year 1838. The novel revolves around the plot of: Born in a workhouse, the orphan Oliver Twist is sold into apprenticeship with an undertaker. After escaping, Oliver travels to London, where he meets the “Artful Dodger”, a member of a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the elderly criminal Fagin. This novel tries to portray the life and situations of the criminals and their sufferings too.
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Nicholas Nickelby
Nicholas Nickelby is the third novel of Charles Dickens. It is considered as one of the major classics after Oliver Twist. This novel has got many alternative title such as, Nicholas Nickleby or The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (or also The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Containing a Faithful Account of the Fortunes, Misfortunes, Uprisings, Downfallings, and Complete Career of the Nickleby Family). The story revolves around a young man’s adventures to support his mother and his sister.
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A Christmas Carol
The novel written by Charles dickens at the time when the British revisiting the past Christmas traditions has got a plot of A Christmas Carol recounts the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. After their visits, Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man. The story has got other alternative titles such as A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas. The story is written in 1843.
David Copperfield
It is a novel of autobiographical nature. It is the autobiography of the writer Charles Dickens itself. This novel was acclaimed to be the favourite of the writer. The novel has various alternative titles such as The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery (Which He Never Meant to Publish on Any Account), commonly known as David Copperfield. It was first published as a serial in 1849 and 1850 and as a book in 1850.
Hard Times
It is a novel written by Charles Dickens. This novel is also called the Hard times; These times and is commonly pronounced as hard times. This novel has got so many peculiarities compared to the other novels of Charles Dickens. It is his shortest novel. It has neither got a preface nor a conclusion. The plot or scene of the novel has been set in London which is indifferent from that of other Charles Dickens Novels. This novel is a satire towards the economic and social conditions of that time.
A Tale of Two Cities
The novel authored by Charles Dicken was published in the year 1859. This is a historical novel which has its roots on the French revolution. The novel is based on the factors that led to the French revolution and reign of terror and power. The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long imprisonment in the Bastille in Paris, and his release to live in London with his daughter Lucie whom he had never met.
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Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre which was originally published as Jane Eyre: An Autobiography, is a novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë, published under the pen name “Currer Bell”, on 16 October 1847, by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The first American edition was published the following year by Harper & Brothers of New York.[1] Jane Eyre is a Bildungsroman which follows the experiences of its eponymous heroine, including her growth to adulthood and her love for Mr. Rochester, the brooding master of Thornfield Hall.
Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, initially published under her pen name Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their turbulent relationships with Earnshaw’s foster son, Heathcliff. The novel was influenced by Romanticism and Gothic fiction. It is one of the most acclaimed classics of Victorian era.
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Middlemarch
Mary Anna Evans is the author of the novel Middlemarch, A Study of Provincial Life which is also called Middle march. She has written the novel using her pen name George Eliot. It first appeared in eight instalments (volumes) in 1871 and 1872. Set in Middlemarch, a fictional English Midland town, in 1829 to 1832, it follows distinct, intersecting stories with many characters.[1] Issues include the status of women, the nature of marriage, idealism, self-interest, religion, hypocrisy, political reform, and education.
Far from the madding crowd
Far from the Madding crowd is the fourth novel by Thomas Hardy. Even though it was the fourth novel of Thomas Hardy it was the first success. And it is considered as one of the top classics in the Victorian era. It was published in 1874 initially through a monthly serial in Cornhill Magazine. It deals in themes of love, honour and betrayal, against a backdrop of the seemingly idyllic, but often harsh, realities of a farming community in Victorian England.
Conclusion
The top Victorian novels are considered to be so fluctuating across different websites and blogs as there is no concrete classification or order for that. But if you look very keenly the novels paced in every site and blog may be the same. These novels are considered as the most glorified novels of the Vicotorian era. Among them, Charles Dickens was considered to be the top author of the novel also. Keep in your mind as a general awareness regarding the Victorian era and crack examination. Keep studying, keep winning.
