The Presence of the Present: Topics of the Day in the Victorian Novel

by Richard D. Altick

The Presence of the Topics of the Day in the Victorian Novel is the first comprehensive study of Victorian novelists' use of the era's everyday culture and common knowledge in their writings. Victorian novelists knew that the men and women who bought and borrowed their books had an insatiable appetite for reading books about people like themselves in the instantly recognizable world in which they lived. They catered to this appetite by, among other devices, scattering through their pages allusions to people, places, and events in the news at the moment a novel was published, as well as to objects, scenes, and fashions that were particularly characteristic of the present-day setting. References to this body of common knowledge helped, in addition, to strengthen the intimate rapport with their readers that authors so much prized in the period, and they also contributed to the realistic effect that authenticated characters and scenes and thus encouraged readers' imaginative assent to the fiction. The Presence of the Present has been derived from approximately 150 novels of the era, from Pickwick Papers to Trollope's last novels and The Mayor of Casterbridge. All the "great names" of Victorian fiction are here-Dickens, Thackeray, Disraeli, George Eliot, Charlotte Brontë, Trollope, Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell, Hardy, Meredith-as well as a representative selection of the less-than-great-Charles Reade, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Samuel Warren, and the unjustly neglected Robert Smith Surtees. The many illustrations, drawn principally form the Illustrated London News and Punch and from the novels themselves, re-create for a reader at the end of the twentieth century the same images that were evoked in the minds of the novels' first readers. The book, therefore, surveys that manner in which Victorian fiction draws upon the observations and experiences of the readers for whom the novelists wrote-not "posterity," but readers of the daily press and riders on the new railways. Here we meet the half-legendary figure of Stultz the fashionable tailor; learn about the messages conveyed at different times and on different social levels by cigar smoking and the wearing of gloves; discover the jokey career of the crinoline, the humors and corrupt practices of parliamentary elections, and scores of other topics that, when fully explained, help us to read with better understanding the living book of Victorian fiction. Richard D. Altick is Regents' Professor Emeritus of English at The Ohio State University. He is the author of numerous books, including The English Common Reader, The Scholar Adventures, Victorian People and Ideas, The Shows of London, Paintings from Books, and Writers, Readers, and Occasions.

854 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Richard Altick was Regent’s Professor of English, Emeritus, at The Ohio State University and the author of numerous important works in the field of literary studies.

Reviews

[Phil Atteberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a monumental piece of scholarship. It explores “topicalities” (to use Richard Altick’s word) in Victorian fiction, using about 150 novels from which to draw examples. All the famous novels are referenced, in addition to lots of novels (and novelists) that I had never heard of. I can’t imagine what kind of staff was required to comb through and master all those lengthy texts, and the many references to novelistic criticisms of the day.

This book functions on two levels. From the 10,000 foot level, it is a consideration of the evolving concept of realism from the late 18th century through the 19th century. At the beginning of that time period, critics derided “topicalities” because they quickly rendered novels obsolete (or so they believed). Early critics preferred the historical romances of Walter Scott with their emphasis on abstractions like courage, honor and the eternal conflict between good and evil. However, as the century progressed, critics (and readers) came to appreciate the social and culture minutiae of the moment as planting a novel most deeply into the rich soil of its day.

From the microscopic level, on the other hand, this book helps explicate references in Victorian novels that are not easily understood by readers as far removed as we are. The various chapters explore subjects like dress, money, occupations, popular entertainments, politics, language, etc. I learned a lot I didn’t know. To cite two quick examples, I was never clear on the difference between petticoats and crinoline. Now I know. Characters in Victorian novels sometimes get into “hackney” cabs and sometimes into “hansom” cabs. I never knew the difference. Now I do. I also have a clearer picture of an “omnibus.” (I should also mention that the illustrations are entertaining and useful).

In short, however much you know about the Victorian novel, you’ll know more after reading this book. However, it is not for the faint of heart. It is 806 pages of small print with many quoted passages from novels in even smaller print. But if you have a passion for Victorian fiction, good eyes, and an empty dance card, reading this may be a mountain worth climbing.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whew! 800 pages that covers a million pages of great and not so great Victorian novels. This is an immersive study of the tropes, memes, and conventions common to the liteature of the era, all forgotten oong ago.

For example, red hair was regarded with suspicion. Product placement was common (Gunter’s Confections, Hamlet’s Jewelry, Rowland’s hair dye, etc.) Politics were raucus and corrupt.

Altick’s command of the vastnesses of the Victorian novel is amazing. He summons an infinitude of illustrations from Dickens, Trollope, Thackeray, Eliot, Gaskell, Hardy, and lesser lights like Reade, Disraeli, etc.

I have spent a great deal of my 60 years or so of reading this litetarure and i missed a host of inside jokes and ironies, and subtle distinctions that really make a difference. So I took up my copy of Trollope’s Doctor Thorne and in the first four pages I spotted numerous instances of things Altick talked about: class and gender, rural politics, buying elections, etc. The effect of reading Altick’s book is similar cleaning an old painting that has been obscured by grime and soot. The colors really pop. I can’t wait to dig into my next novel.

Altick’s thesis is that contemporary readers of these volumes were conscious that they were “Victorians” and they wanted indicators of topicality. They were interested in understanding what it meant to be Victorian. In this way I think they were much more like our own self absorbed generation than I had previously thought.

This book belongs in the library of any lover of 19th C fiction.

[Esabella]

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[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my standard go-to resources for anything Victorian, though I don't believe I've ever read the whole thing through.

Ch. 9: "The Way They Looked" pp. 275-338.