11. Late Victorian Literature and Early Modernism (Turn of the 19th/20th Century)

Who is a transitional figure between Victorian and Modernist sensibilities (late victorian realism)?

Thomas Hardy.

What characterizes late Victorian realism?

• The observation of elemental passions and the portrayal of characters as outcomes of their environment.

• Nature is depicted as great and influential, while man is small.

• The prose is pessimistic, lacking belief in human progress, focusing on the injustice of human existence, and finding little consolation in religion.

What are major late Victorian novels?

Tess of the D'Urbervilles & Jude the Obscure (both by Thomas Hardy).

Who wrote The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?

Robert Louis Stevenson.

Who wrote The Picture of Dorian Gray?

Oscar Wilde.

Who wrote Dracula?

Bram Stoker.

Who's the most notable figure in the science fiction and utopia genres?

Herbert George Wells.

Who is noted for their imaginary-world romances, which laid the foundations for "sword and sorcery" fiction?

Lord Dunsany (Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett).

What is the "exotic adventure" novel about?

A genre featuring adventure in exotic locations, with romance, action, and escape, reacting against the social focus of mainstream English novels.

Who wrote Treasure Island?

Robert Louis Stevenson.

What conventions did Treasure Island establish?

Lonely island, buried treasure, pirates, child protagonist.

Who wrote King Solomon's Mines (the first English adventure novel set in Africa)?

Henry Rider Haggard.

What work is considered the genesis of the "lost world" literary genre?

King Solomon's Mines.

Who is often accused of being the "herald of British imperialism"?

Rudyard Kipling.

Who wrote the Jungle Book?

Rudyard Kipling.

Who is considered an early modernist who merged romance motifs and adventure with novelistic narrative techniques?

Joseph Conrad.

What set Joseph Conrad apart from others?

Unlike typical exotic adventure novels, Conrad focused on psychological and social aspects (racial differences, moral disintegration, human choices, exploitation of natives, fascination with power).

What was the key narrative technique of Modernism?

It diminished the importance of the omniscient narrator, introducing multiple secondary narrators with subjective viewpoints, creating a fragmented vision where "objective" truth appears elusive.

Which novel provided one of the first critical views of European imperial activities?

Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad).