Dates and towns in Victorian Lit

[Kate]

Could anyone tell me why in Victorian Literature Dates and places are written; In 17__, in ____shire, for example?

Kate >^..^<

[Tirzah]

I always wondered that, too! Your question sparked my curiosity, so I Googled for some solid sources. The best I got was authors such as Charlotte Bronte and Victor Hugo used a dash for some characters and places because they had an actual person/place in mind when writing. To avoid legal issues, the authors simply placed a dash in place of the full name. I don't know if this is entirely true, but it makes sense and that is all I could find on the Internet. Not sure why they threw a dash in dates, though...?!

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/2414215

[Amy]

Tirzah wrote: "I always wondered that, too! Your question sparked my curiosity, so I Googled for some solid sources. The best I got was authors such as Charlotte Bronte and Victor Hugo used a dash for some charac..."

I've heard this as well. Like in Pride and Prejudice when Austen puts a dash in the name of the military unit that was in the town. It could have brought up legal issues and also accuracy issues. If they named a specific place and time but have something inaccurate, it could raise problems. They could avoid that by not naming the specific place.

[Kate]

Thank you. I wondered if it was a legal thing but that theory didn't fit the dates. Could the non specific date be a way of keeping the book timeless, not pigeon holing it into one time?
With the places I try to work out where they might be, from clues like so far from London, or near the river Avon!

Thank you and merry Christmas.