Hall of Fame
From the adventures of Sherlock Holmes to the autobiography of a slave, the Victorian era is full of visionary authors
Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens wrote 15 novels in total, among which are some of the best-known works in the English language, including Oliver Twist, Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol. However, unlike some of his contemporaries, Dickens focused his writing on exposing the social evils of his day, primarily that of poverty and exploitation. Dickens had spent his youth in poverty and so knew personally the hardship felt by Britain’s working class. Yet despite this, his works were serialised and popular among all the classes. Queen Victoria was also said to have been an admirer, meeting Dickens shortly before his death.
George Eliot
Born Mary Ann Evans, George Eliot held strong leftwing views and was writing for The Westminster Review when she met George Lewes, who encouraged her to try her hand at fiction writing. A married man, their relationship was a scandalous one in Victorian Britain. Eliot felt that the work of female authors was usually dismissed as cheap, overtly romantic and considered of little literary merit. Desiring to have her novel viewed with the same significance as a man's would be, she adopted the nom de plume of George Eliot.
Her works, such as The Mill on the Floss and Middlemarch, were widely praised and remain popular to this day.
MARY PRINCE
Born into slavery, Mary Prince created something of a storm when she authored The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave, Related by Herself in 1831. In 1828, when she moved to London with her owner, Mary left and began the fight for her freedom. Although slavery was still commonplace in Britain’s colonies, in 1807 the buying and selling of slaves had been forbidden in Britain. After meeting abolitionist Thomas Pringle, Mary authored her story as part of her campaign for freedom.
SHERIDAN LE FANU
Born in Dublin, Ireland, Sheridan Le Fanu was originally destined for a career as a lawyer. However, the young man found himself drawn to more literary pursuits and instead purchased several newspapers, becoming a successful journalist. He also occupied his time by writing supernatural and Gothic tales, and it is these that have become his best-known legacy. Carmilla, a disturbing tale of vampirism, was published in 1872, some 25 years before Bram Stoker’s more famous vampiric creation, Dracula.
OSCAR WILDE
Oscar Wilde was a popular playwright known for his wit, but wrote only one novel: The Picture of Dorian Gray. The book tells the story of a young man who sells his soul in return for eternal youth. In 1895, Wilde became the subject of a trial surroundin
