UNIT II
2.1 Introduction to the Victorian period
Bibliography:
 Cortés, C. La Inglaterra Victoriana. Akal, 1994.
1. What were the main features of Victorian literature?
2. Which was the most popular literary form of the period?
3. What is meant by Victorianism?
2.2 A reformist approach to literature & society. Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol
2.3 George Eliot’s “The Lifted Veil”
Reading practice:
 Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol
 George Eliot’s “The Lifted Veil”
Bibliography:
 Caporale, S. & Aragón, A. Historia crítica de la novela inglesa escrita por mujeres.
Salamanca: Almar Anglística, 2003 (capítulo V: pp. 117-122 y pp. 140-144).
 Jordan, J. The Cambridge companion to Charles Dickens . Cambridge: CUP, 2001
(Capítulo: “The life and times of Charles Dickens” ).
 Fowler, Alastair. A history of English Literature . Oxford: Blackwell, 1987 (Capítulo:
“19th-century fiction”).
 Introducciones de las ediciones elegidas de “A Christmas Carol” y “The Lifted Veil”.
 Material crítico en Campus Virtual
4. Introduce Charles Dickens’s main themes and cultural influences and relate them to the author’s reformist approach to society.
5. Stress the Romantic traits of Dickens’s narrative.
6. Summarize the main characteristics of Victorianism and expand your discourse to Dicken’s
“A Christmas Carol”.
7. Discuss the use of the narrator in “The Lifted Veil” and the gothic themes of this “novella”.
8. Discuss the presence of Victorian science in “The Lifted Veil”.
TEST – Basic concepts
1. `Christmas Carol’ was written in
a. 1843 b. 1816 c. 1818 d. 1848
2. Which of the following novels was not authored by Charles Dickens?
a. Great Expectations b. Oliver Twist c. Pride and Prejudice d. David Copperfield
3. Emily Brontë wrote a.
Jane Eyre b. Agnes Grey c. Villette d. Wuthering Heights
4. Robert Browing and Matthew Arnold were two Victorian poets
a. True b. False
5. Which of the following novels was not written by George Eliot?

a.
Middlemarch b. The Mill on the Floss c. North and South
6. George Eliot’s `The Lifted Veil’ was published in
a. 1848 b. 1852 c. 1859 d. 1798
7. In ‘The Lifted Veil’ the author uses
a. the third person narration b. the oblique narration c. the first person narration
8. The Lifted Veil’ is narrated by
a. Bertha Grant b. Mr. Letherall c. Alfred, Latimer’s brother d. Latimer
9. George Eliot’s real name was
a. Ann Evan b. Mary Ann Evans c. Mary Ann Evan d. Margaret Evan
10. The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hide can be considered the tale of the homo
duplex because
a. it tells the story of the divided nature of its author b. it tells the story of a society divided between rich and poor c. it tells the story of the man split between a respectable public self and a hidden violent animal double d. it tells the story of two men who look like each other, one is a good person and the other one is a killer