Victorian Love Stories: An Oxford Anthology Hardcover - 1996

From the publisher

This varied, unusual selection of short stories presents Victorian love in all its moods. Covering a period that embraces both Elizabeth Gaskell and Somerset Maugham, these stories range from the sentimental to the satiric, the crudely realistic to the perplexed, the mystical, and the
rapturous. The lovers include a shopkeeper and an aristocrat, an actress, a governess, Americans abroad, a seaweed gatherer, and a pair of herons
Self-sacrifice and adultery figure prominently in these pages, as Victorian writers explored the nature of relationships at a time when women's growing independence brought traditional roles and assumptions into question. These stories confound expectations by recasting the familiar genres of
fable, fairy tale, and naturalism to deal with these new themes. The anthology further exceeds our expectations with its inclusive array of voices and perspectives; alongside the well-known work of Trollope and Hardy one finds equally powerful stories by Lucy Clifford, Hubert Crackenthorpe, and
Ellen T. Fowler. Displaying the complexity of love and the inventiveness of Victorian fiction this volume will appeal to students of Victorian culture and any lover of short fiction.

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