Iyengar, K. R. Srinivasa, Lytton Strachey: A Critical Study, Kennikat Press, 1967, pp. Because he took such liberties with historical fact, it is Strachey’s method that came to be discredited, rather than the Victorian ethos he attempted to subvert. within limits; that is to say, in the toleration of those with whom he agreed.’’. 1, Winter 1995, pp. Two notable examples of irony occur in the biography of George Gordon. Whittemore, Reed, ‘‘Biography and Literature,’’ in the Sewanee Review, Vol. Strachey is most relentlessly satirical in his account of Arnold, who obviously arouses his scorn. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1966. This shows that underneath the specific garb of their occupation or role, important people tend to be those with strong political convictions that they pursue with vehemence. Appearing in May, 1918, Strachey’s Eminent Victorians was received by a people tired of war, shocked at the appalling carnage, and, at least in the intellectual classes, cynical about the policies that had dragged Britain into a ruinous, four-year continental war. Strachey uses innuendo when he discusses Manning’s conversion to Roman Catholicism. Gender roles are more flexible, and women pursue careers in professions formerly the exclusive preserve of men. Chronicles Strachey’s struggles as a gay and neurasthenic writer to defy Victorian ideology and create new forms of art and identity. this section. Irony After his conversion, Manning was at the bottom of the ecclesiastical ladder, which might imply that he was motivated to convert by genuine religious beliefs, not worldly ambition. Florence Nightingale in 'Eminent Victorians': A Study of Characteristics and Meaning; The Conflict in Wuthering Heights GradeSaver, 5 December 2019 Web. Eminent Victorians. Strachey, who was a pacifist, was well aware that the politicians who had allowed Britain to slide into war in 1914 were all products of the late-Victorian age. Strachey also presents Arnold’s views on education, as well as his positions on political, social, and religious issues, in satirical manner. Sanders, Charles Richard, Lytton Strachey: His Mind and Art, Yale University Press, 1957, pp. An editor In Eminent Victorians (1918), Lytton Strachey examined the lives of four famous English individuals from the Victorian Era and found that they were not quite what previous biographies and popular legend had made them out to be. The implication is that this puzzled look gives the lie to Arnold’s bold self-confidence about all matters. Cardinal Manning, Thomas Arnold, Charlsen Gordon, and Florence Nightingale are not in a club or anything. With his satirical portraits of four revered figures of the Victorian age, Strachey set about puncturing the hypocrisy that underlay the surface of Victorianism and delivering a blow to its prestige. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995. Satire is the use of wit and humor to ridicule or show scorn of a subject. Despite political progress, however, the decade from 1885 to 1895 was a period of social unrest and economic uncertainty. Not affiliated with Harvard College. From Wikisource < Eminent Victorians. Argues that Strachey’s aim in Eminent Victorians was explicitly literary. Eminent Victorians - Lytton Strachey's critical biographies of major Victorian figures which helped define the modern era - a book review In contrast to Victorian prudery, sex is openly discussed, and in a consumer society sex is used in advertising messages to sell everything from cars to cigarettes. 2 (Fall, 1995): 129-152. Stratford, Jenny. Its fame rests on the irreverence and wit Strachey brought to bear on three men and a woman who had until then been regarded as heroes: Cardinal Manning, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Arnold and General Gordon. The Question and Answer section for Eminent Victorians is a great Eminent Victorians Summary In Eminent Victorians (1918), Lytton Strachey examined the lives of four famous English individuals from the Victorian Era and found that they were not quite what previous biographies and popular legend had made them out to be. His portraits of these nineteenth-century imperial icons are brilliant but unreliable, coruscating but partisan, and enthralling but frequently derivative.”. The author presents Nightingale’s belief in herself only to mock it; the satire reveals her arrogance and inflated sense of self-importance. Rather, what makes the group suitable for treatment in this book is that the effects of their actions and decisions extended way past the time of their deaths. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey. Today: British society is more informal than in previous generations; relations between the sexes are less governed by formal rules. Strachey, in ‘Eminent Victorians’ reflects on the character of infamous historical heroine Florence Nightingale to cast the past lives of ordinary citizens, primarily women, as unsatisfactory and unfulfilling, and through this negative depiction of Victorian England, the author is able to uphold perceptions of the 20th century, through contrast, as a period of female liberation. Eminent Victorians study guide contains a biography of Lytton Strachey, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Discussion of themes and motifs in Lytton Strachey's Eminent Victorians. Eminent Victorians Contents: Cardinal Manning -- Florence Nightingale -- Dr. Arnold -- The end of General Gordon Language: English: LoC Class: DA: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Great Britain, Ireland, Central Europe: Subject: Great Britain -- Biography Subject: Great Britain -- History -- Victoria, 1837-1901 -- Biography Subject Strachey demonstrated how easy it was, in the developing climate of cynicism at the end of the war, to replace … In Britain and America, Strachey imitators wrote many ‘‘debunking’’ biographies, in which more eminent subjects were toppled from their lofty pedestals. Hurrell Froude, ... analysis of his reflections, and to describe, under the mystic It was a relief to find, when one had supposed that one was nothing but a clergyman, that one might, after all, be something else—one might be a priest. Simpson, F. A., ‘‘Methods of Biography,’’ in Spectator, Vol. . Strachey mentions how influential Cardinal Manning was in speaking directly to large crowds of dock workers, when it was clear that they had won the dispute, urging them not to prolong the suffering of their wives and children. This was the critical event of her life. In London, prostitution flourishes. The title of the book, Eminent Victorians, is itself ironic, and much of Strachey’s satire employs irony. Satire also characterizes Strachey’s treatment of Florence Nightingale’s pretensions to serious religious thought. This is a survey of Strachey’s development as a writer in relation to his life. Already a member? resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. 1800s: In England, churchgoing amongst the middle and upper classes is high, and functions as a sign of status. Authors such as George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, and G. K. Chesterton had already been critical of Victorian thought. The Reform Act of 1884 extended the franchise to all working men (women, however, did not receive the vote until 1918), and the Redistribution Act of 1885 created parliamentary constituencies of roughly equal size. . What is Strachey's concept of biography as seen in the light of his preface to Eminent Victorians? Eminent Victorians essays are academic essays for citation. Inexplicably, this (ironically named) Good Press edition omits the entire Preface. Manning said very little about this meeting, which encouraged Strachey to call it a ‘‘mysterious interview.’’ The implication is that the pope may have promised Manning some advancement if he would convert, but no evidence is offered to substantiate the suggestion. If not, which essay in the book is least accurate? Lytton Strachey: The New Biography. He belonged to that class of eminent ecclesiastics—and it is by no means a small class—who have been distinguished less for saintliness and learning than for practical ability. 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