The realistic Victorian novel focused on characters and themes such as the plight of the poor and social mobility that was being afforded to a new middle class and the rising middle class were eager to consume these novels.įirst Edition copies of Charles Dickens serialized Pickwick PapersĮvolution of the Realistic Victorian Novel Dickens particularly would portray the lives of working class people, creating characters that the new rising middle class audience could relate to. The subject matter of realistic Victorian novels also helped increase their popularity. As a result of this serialization and a focus on character rather than plot, Dickens’ works are sometimes criticized for having weak plots.
Most notably, the works of Charles Dickens were frequently serialized in newspapers or journals, his first being Pickwick Papers in 1836. These works also became more accessible as a result of the Industrial Revolution and the expansion of newspapers and the periodical press.
As the middle class expanded and more people became literate, the popularity of the novel exploded. However, changes in class structure saw the novel rise in popularity. Prior to the Victorian Era, poetry had been the dominant form of literature. Pip was written to be very “real”, with all his flaws and positive attributes. He was meant to be a very tangible person, one that the average person of this time could relate to. The novel follows Pip’s struggles, and focuses on telling the whole truth about the character, both his good and bad actions and the reasons behind them. In Charles Dickens Great Expectations, the novel goes through a boy named Pip’s life, as he unexpectedly comes into money and is asked to become a gentleman. One of the most popular novels of this time is in the Social Realism genre. Thus, a subgenre called Social Realism was born. These struggles usually included a lower class citizen trying to gain upward mobility. The novels were about the common man, which also happened to be the struggles of the lower class. The attention to detail was made to just report the facts, not commenting or judging on the scene or character. This form of literature used journalistic techniques in order to make the literature something closer to real life with facts and general stereotypes of human nature. The most popular form of literature had always been poetry. The realistic novel was quite different than what has been seen with earlier literature.
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