The question of social and class relationships in the British social-problem novel
Thesis title in Czech:
Problematika společenských a třídních vztahů v britském sociálním románu
Thesis title in English:
The question of social and class relationships in the British social-problem novel
Key words:
Charlotte Brontëová|Elizabeth Gaskellová|Charles Dickens|sociální román|Viktoriánská éra|průmyslová revoluce|společenská třída|společnost|vztahy|sociální problémy
English key words:
Charlotte Brontë|Elizabeth Gaskell|Charles Dickens|social-problem novel|Victorian Era|Industrial Revolution|social class|society|relationships|social problems
Academic year of topic announcement:
2019/2020
Thesis type:
Bachelor's thesis
Thesis language:
angličtina
Department:
Department of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures (21-UALK)
hidden - assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept.
Date of registration:
12.11.2019
Date of assignment:
13.11.2019
Administrator's approval:
not processed yet
Confirmed by Study dept. on:
20.11.2019
Date and time of defence:
16.06.2022 10:00
Date of electronic submission:
17.05.2022
Date of proceeded defence:
16.06.2022
Submitted/finalized:
committed by student and finalized
Opponents:
PhDr. Soňa Nováková, CSc.
Guidelines
The thesis will attempt to explore how different authors of the mid-Victorian novels (Elizabeth Gaskell in North and South; Charlotte Bronte in Shirley; Benjamin Disraeli in Sybil, or the Two Nations)depicted the social consequences of the Industrial Revolution in England during the nineteenth century. The greatest emphasis will be put on the representation of the differences between social classes; the portrayal of the complex relationships between the employers and the working class people and the detrimental conditions in which they were forced to work and live. What will not remain forgotten are labour relations, social unrest caused by the growing animosity between the rich and the poor as well as the description of how the pursuit of money and generally the economic situation of the individuals tarnished love relationships and personal life in general. Universally, the thesis will aim to accentuate those aspects which the authors most desired to eliminate within the society of their time, and by their inclusion into the novels they longed to provoke social reform and reconciliation between the two diverse groups dwelling in one country.
References
Bibliography: Brantlinger, Patrick. “Dickens and the Factories.” Nineteenth-Century Fiction. 26. 3 (1971): 270–285. JSTOR 9. Nov 2019. Brontë, Charlotte. Shirley. London: Penguin, 1994. Colón, Susan E. The Professional Ideal in the Victorian Novel: The Works of Disraeli, Trollope, Gaskell, and Eliot. New York and Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan™, 2007. Disraeli, Benjamin. Sybil: or The Two Nations. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1881. Duthie, Enid L. The Themes of Elizabeth Gaskell. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire and London: Macmillan Academic and Professional LTD, 1980. Edwards, Mike. Charlotte Brontë: The Novels. New York: St. Martin’s Press, INC., 1999. Elliott, Dorice Williams. “The Female Visitor and the Marriage of Classes in Gaskell's North and South.” Nineteenth-Century Literature. 49. 1 (1994): 21–49. JSTOR 9. Nov 2019. Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn. North and south. 3rd print. London: Penguin Books, 1995. Guy, Josephine M. The Victorian Social-Problem Novel; The Market, the Individual and Communal Life. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire and London: The Macmillan Press LTD, 1996. Harvie, Christop. The Centre of Things: Political Fiction in Britain from Disraeli to the Present. London: Unwin Hyman Ltd, 1991. Johnston, Josephine. “The Sociological Significance of the Novels of Mrs. Gaskell.” Social Forces. 7. 2 (1928): 224–227. JSTOR 9. Nov 2019. Mann, Nancy D. “Intelligence and Self-Awareness in ‘North and South’: A Matter of Sex and Class.” Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature. 29. 1 (1975): 24 38. JSTOR 9. Nov 2019. Shuttleworth, Sally. Charlotte Brontë and Victorian Psychology. Cambridge University Press, 1996. Schwarz, Daniel R. Disraeli’s Fiction. The Macmillan Press LTD, 1979. Young, Arlene. Culture, Class and Gender in the Victorian Novel; Gentlemen, Gents and Working Women. Lodon: Palgrave Macmillan UK, 1999.
- assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept.