Romanticism and Victorianism in English literature - Symbolism, sensation, adventure, and high fantasy in the Victorian novel : from Oscar Wilde to Bram Stoker : lesson 12.

Abstract

The unit introduces the three movements formative of the late 19th century artistic views: Symbolism, Decadence, and Aestheticism. It demonstrates – through the example of Oscar Wilde’s fiction – how the sophisticated symbolism of the decadent aestheticist agenda may fuse with the more popular entertainment mode of gothic fiction’s pleasurable thrills. It also provides a brief overview of the Victorian era’s most popular novelistic forms, including the sensation novel, the adventure novel, detective fiction, and fantastic fiction.