Jump to content

Novels That Shaped Our World


Raven

Recommended Posts

I looked down that listing wondering how on earth that selection could be regarded as changing our world (some, yes, but most, no).  However,  I then read the blurb in more detail, and it's very much a personal selection of books that changed the panel's lives.  Rather more parochial!  Should still be an interesting programme to watch.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sure about some of the topics either, I don't think I would have put The Tenant of Wildfell Hall under Family & Friendships, and some of the fantasy novels seem to be in a strange category too.  But yes it is personal and I'm sure will generate a lot of discussion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...

I have often wondered how much Charles Dickens' books influenced society. Robert Tressel's The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists was credited with winning the 1945 general election for Labour. 1984 by George Orwell must have been very influential.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, KEV67 said:

I have often wondered how much Charles Dickens' books influenced society. Robert Tressel's The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists was credited with winning the 1945 general election for Labour. 1984 by George Orwell must have been very influential.

 

As far as I'm aware, Charles Dickens gave us the Christmas that we celebrate now. Saw a TV program on that once (can't remember the name of said program)

Edited by lunababymoonchild
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was thinking more along the lines of improving welfare for orphans, reducing legal corruption, reducing institutional bureaucracy, improving factory conditions, improving education. He usually criticised some area of society in his books. As he was so popular, I wondered whether he had any effect.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/05/2021 at 10:29 AM, Madeleine said:

I think it was the Victorians in general who shaped Christmas as we know it today, it was Prince Albert who introduced the idea of the Christmas tree.

It was Queen Charlotte (wife of George III ) who brought Christmas trees to England. Albert popularised them.

Edited by France
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, KEV67 said:

I was thinking more along the lines of improving welfare for orphans, reducing legal corruption, reducing institutional bureaucracy, improving factory conditions, improving education. He usually criticised some area of society in his books. As he was so popular, I wondered whether he had any effect.

I'm sure he had an effect, just like Charlotte Bronte did apparently with Jane Eyre and her description of Lowood School (I think that's the name!) which highlighted the conditions for so-called charity cases and they were much improved.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I definitely think Dickens influenced society with his writing, very intentionally so. I think the divorce reform conversations happening in the 1850s are an interesting example. Dickens was publishing other people's articles on the subject, well as his own, in his periodical Household Words for a while. Then he wrote about the unfairness of divorce laws in Hard Times and just a couple of years later the Bill was finally passed. The conversation would have happened without Dickens, but he reached a lot of people with his publications and used them to generate empathy for working-class people trapped in unhealthy marriages because they couldn't afford to get divorced. I definitely think he would have changed a few minds on the subject :) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, France said:

I'm sure he had an effect, just like Charlotte Bronte did apparently with Jane Eyre and her description of Lowood School (I think that's the name!) which highlighted the conditions for so-called charity cases and they were much improved.

 

Interesting. Elizabeth Gaskell got in a bit of hot water, because in her biography of Charlotte Brontë, she repeated her criticisms of the school on which Lowood School was based (Cowen Bridge). When Jane Eyre came out former pupils quickly recognised the school and some of the staff. One of the problems was that the school was located in an unhealthy place. Another problem was the cook was very bad. IIRC, the reverend at the school wrote a defence, and I think his son-in-law did too.

 

Jane Eyre contained a feminist outburst at one point. She complained about the lack of opportunities for women. I wonder if that had an effect.

Edited by KEV67
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...