The Victorian Frame of Mind, 1830-1870

by Walter E. Houghton

“It is now forty years,” Walter Houghton writes, “since Lytton Strachey decided that we knew too much about the Victorian era to view its culture as a whole.”  Recently the tide has turned and the Victorians have been the subject of sympathetic “period pieces,” critical and biographical works, and extensive studies of their age, but the Victorian mind itself remains blurred for us—a bundle of various and often paradoxical ideas and attitudes.  Mr. Houghton explores these ideas and attitudes, studies their interrelationships, and traces their simultaneous existence to the general character of the age.  His inquiry is the more important because it demonstrates that to look into the Victorian mind is to see some of the primary sources of the modern mind. 

Genres: History, Nonfiction, 19th Century, Victorian, Research, Literary Criticism, European History

486 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Walter Edwards Houghton (1904 - 1983) was an American historian of Victorian literature, best known for editing the Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals.

Reviews

[Mads · Rating 3 out of 5]

I purchased the Victorian Frame of Mind from my city's largest second-hand bookstore, and so I managed to snag one of the copies printed in the 1950s. The text itself is far more academic than I'm used to - I'll admit to only clearly understanding 80% of what Walter E Houghton talked about! Even so, the book was insightful and useful. It goes without saying - though it is no less unfortunate - that this book covers only the attitudes of philosophical upper/middle-class (white) males. There was one chapter on "Woman" toward the end of the book, and while Houghton wrote respectfully about women, he only wrote a very small amount - and all references to women were only in relation to men (wives, mothers, and prostitutes). There was no reference to the philosophy women might have shared, as 'domestics' or ground-shakers.
The absence of female or lower-class perspective is hardly surprising, as a 1950s Professor writing about the Victorians - however, should a future, well-researched book on Victorian philosophy emerge that is written about all fronts - race, sex, and class - I believe we'd have ourselves are far more interesting, objective, and insightful text.

[Christopher Newton · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my grad school teachers gave this to me years ago and I have returned to it again and again over the years. I haven't begun to plumb its depths. Its a great guidebook to the Victorian mind. I'm not a professor, by the way, just always been interested in the Victorians.

[Kelsey Carnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative, but too repetitive for my taste. The book provides a solid overview of Victorianism and is replete with specific literary and historical details to back up its claims; for that reason I would recommend it to a student who is not well-versed in Victorian history and belief. However, I often felt that, in the interest of covering more ground, the author did not engage with the material as deeply as I would have desired. Each chapter explores a different aspect of Victorian culture, religion, and/or history. After chapter two or three, I began to feel that the author reiterated strains of argumentation and specific historical details that he had already explored in previous chapters in order to cover the theme of each section thoroughly. To be clear, I don't consider it a bad book, but it didn't quite satisfy me on all points. I can't give half stars on Goodreads, but if I could I would rate it 3.5 out of 5.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eye-opening. For instance, when I was little, I learned the story of Genesis, as God made the world. Later, I was taught evolution. So I learned about the world through religion and science, imagination and intellect. The Victorians started out with religion, then had it snatched out from under them by Darwin's discovery. Many of them were shattered forever. For the survivors, it was either faith or science - you had to choose, even at the risk of eternal damnation. That explains so many of their other attitudes. Extremely fascinating.

[Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is fascinating - in essence, the author showed that the Victorians were people of an inflection point, from the pre-industrial revolution, religious driven people to the people of the new age that ground themselves in the current of scientific discovery and enlightenment. Due to this, people back then lived in the state of constant conflict: since the new idea was still shaky and old idea hasn’t died down, people were in a constant state of flux.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent study of the Victorian era - published in 1957 so lots of scholarship since that time but i assume that it's a go-to book for many a Victorian England academic. I highly recommend it. Read it as research for my next novel.

[Connie Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used this book as a resource in college. It continues to provide valuable insight into the Victorian literary world.

[Amanda May · Rating 3 out of 5]

Compared to Richard Altick's Victorian People and Ideas, this particular text reads more like a history text. The style used is recognizably Chicago of Manual, and the daunting number of block quotes give it an historic feel. Nevertheless, I did find my perusal relatively enjoyable.

In addition, although this seemed to me to be a much more in-depth exploration of the Victorian era than Altick's text, I feel like it was also for a more educated audience. I recommend this to fellow scholars who are working with or are interested in working with texts from the Victorian era.

[naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at the ideology of mainstreem Victorians- very original criticism of a crucial era in history.

[Reuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Literary criticism.

[sch]

Begun twice. Couldn't finish either time.