Victorian Fantasy: Imagination and Belief in Nineteenth-Century England - Paperback

by George Prickett (Author)

Victorian fantasy is an art form that flourished in opposition to the repressive social and intellectual conditions of 'Victorianism'. The author explores the ways in which Victorian writers used non-realistic techniques - nonsense, dreams, visions, and the creation of other worlds - to extend our understanding of this world, and the creation of this world. This work focuses on six key writers: Lear, Carroll, Kingsley, MacDonald, Kipling, and Nesbit. Stephen Prickett traces the development of their art form, their influence on each other, and how these writers used fantasy to question the ideology of Victorian culture and society.

Author Biography

Stephen Prickett is Regius Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Glasgow, and an Honorary Professor of the University of Kent, at Canterbury. From 2003-8 he was Director of the Armstrong Browning Library at Baylor University, Waco, Texas. From 1967 to 1982 he taught at the University of Sussex, before moving to the Chair of English at the Australian National University in Canberra (1983-89). He is President of the George MacDonald Society His publications include one novel, nine monographs, seven edited volumes, and over ninety articles on Romanticism, Victorian Studies and related topics, especially on literature and theology.