Discuss the Edwardian Period as a transition between Victorianism and the Modern Era

The Edwardian Period

King Edward VII (1901-1910)

From the perspective of the higher classes might have seemed idyllic, but for the common people and from a larger political perspective it was not a good period. The economy was stagnant. The navy was losing it's position of superiority and there was an armaments race in Europe. Unstability in Ireland continued. There was a womans sufferage movement. In 1918 women were given the right to vote.

Two tendencies in fiction:

1. Traditional realism (John Galsworthy, Arnold Bennett, H.G.Wells, early P.G.Wodehouse)

2. forefunners of Modernism (Henry James, Joseph Conrad, E.M.Forster)

John Galsworthy
1867-1933

Wrote a five volume work: The Forsyte Saga (1906-1921).

The main character is Soames Forsyte. It is set in some country houses in Kensignton and Bayswater.

Arnold Bennett
1867-1931

Anna of the Five Towers (1902)

Old Wives' Tale (1908)

Clayhanger (1910)

Herbert George Wells
1866-1946

Science-fiction novels

The Time Machine (1895)

The Island of Dr Moreau (1896)

The War of the Worlds (1898)

Tono Bungay (1909) - the metaphor of English society seen as a large country house.

P.G. (Sir Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse
1881-1975

Wrote humorous stories and novels about eccentric members of the upper classes in country houses during the Edwardian period(butler Jeeves).

Henry James
1843-1916

Later novels(the "major phase"):

The Wings of the Dove (1902)

The Ambassadors (1903)

The Golden Bowl (1904)

=Anticipators of Modernism=

Joseph Conrad, E.M. Forester

Internation aspect to the novels. Till this time, novels had been moraly simple. Now there was moral openness/ambiguity.

These pre-Modernist authors included, incoherence, confusion, and alienation of the idividual from society in their works.

Joseph Conrad
1857-1924

Born as Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski. Traveled to Marseille at the age of 16 to begin a career as a seaman. Became a British citizen at 19 and changed his name to "Joseph Conrad." English was his third language. In 1889 he visited the Congo Free State as captain of a steamboat. In 1896 he married an English woman.

His works were written in parable. He placed his characters in extreme situations. They faced moral uncertainty. He uses time shifts and multiple narrative perspectives. International aspect of his novels comes from his own background and travels.

Heart of Darkness (1899)

Lord Jim (1900) - the main protagonist is trying to come to terms morally with his past.

Marlow is the narator of both stories as well as of Youth (1902) and Chance (1913).

Nostromo (1904) - an analysis of South American politics (corruption, revolution).

The Secret Agent (1907) - takes place in London, a psychological study of anarchism.