High Victorian culture /

Morse (Univ. of Sussex), author of American Romanticism (CH, Jul'87), Perspectives on Romanticism (CH, Dec'81), Romanticism: A Structural Analysis (CH, Jul'82), and England's Time of Crisis (CH, Feb'90), takes a long look at another time of crisis--the first four Victorian decades--to explore Britain in fascinating detail. He touches on many topics, yet keeps separate Victorians of very different cultural worlds. The book's thorough introductory chapter ranges from improved communications to reformed legislation, parliamentary constituencies, entertainment in London, and sanitation to more thorough treatments of class distinctions, the position of women, the importance of the British Empire, and controversy. The remaining chapters probe English culture and the state of English society, with Cobbett, Carlyle, and Kingsley given full opportunity to accentuate the negative against the positive thrust; the uneasy move of the Victorian novel from Gothic to contemporary, from safe England past to economically insecure England present. Morse also examines the traditional beliefs that were held quietly and deeply--despite trials of the spirit in Eliot, Tennyson, Carlyle, Newman, et al.--until the 1850s marked a shift away from concern with theological and doctrinal issues; the emergence of the intellectual, a characteristically 19th-century phenomenon, with intelligence against, rather than for, the status quo; the unexpected, significant discussions of painting, sculpture, and architecture; and the move of the Victorian novel beyond much prohibition and inhibition. Mid-Victorian Britain memorably presented. Some typos; topical index needed. All libraries. L. M. Tenbusch; Immaculata College