Interwar Britain has traditionally been understood as featuring anti-Victorianism through the influence of Lytton Strachey's Eminent Victorians (1918) and the Great War. Strachey is associated with the Bloomsbury Set, wartime experiences created the 'Lost Generation', but less attention has been given to Victorian generational identities in the twentieth century. Therefore, this thesis explores the survival of Victorian identities and accounts for the resurgence of the appeal of Victorian representations, especially amongst the 'middlebrow', c.1901-39. The time period studied in this thesis includes the emergence of a new way of understanding society: as generations. How the Victorian and immediate post-Victorian generations understood their place in time, space, and in relation to one another will be demonstrated. Furthermore, a close reading of Victorian representations in popular culture will explore the emergence of a reappraisal of the Victorians. Traditionally, inter-generational tension in this period has focused on Bloomsbury and the Intellectual Aristocracy. This thesis will supplement this focus with cultural material indicating generational identities and interest in Victorian representations in wider society. These include the emergence of a new form of literature, the genealogical novel, opinions found in popular daily newspapers and other periodicals, and visual representations such as films, stage plays, art and museum exhibitions. This thesis challenges the argument that the appeal of Victorian identities and representations was vanquished in this period. It will be shown that it remained the dominant force in shaping early twentieth-century identities and held a significant role in popular culture during the 1930s.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:577543 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Marks, Duncan |
| Publisher | University of Sheffield |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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