Victorian Reviews

Adela Breton: A Victorian Artist Amid Mexico's Ruins

Published in Hardcover by University of New Mexico Press (2005-12-16)

Author: Mary F. McVicker

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biography of Victorian artist of Mayan remains and relics

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-01-05

Adela Breton (1849-1923) was a well-to-do English Victorian woman who did not begin her unique work of painting Mayan ruins until she was 50. Even for her age, in this she displayed an adventurousness, energy, and individuality reminiscent of Isek Dinesen. Visiting the Mayan ruins during a travel excursion known as the Mexican Grand Tour, she became absorbed in the ancient Mexican civilization's archaeology. Combining this new-found interest with her practice of painting and sketching archaeological objects of Scotland, Egypt, and Africa from her readings in anthropology, Breton's Mayan paintings are of interest not mainly for any innovative or exceptional skill, but for their verisimilitude. Some of her paintings are the only documents available for lost relics or ones which have deteriorated. Her congenital interest in archaeology and anthropology combing the enthusiasm of the amateur with the reflection and understanding of the professional and the appreciation she had for her subjects is seen in her bright colors, clarity of line, and the attention to detail. The biography by an independent scholar with a law degree portrays Breton in an almost novelistic manner--she is not simply a subject, but a character of a story too. Quotes from diaries and letters of hers and from letters to her and writings of others about her at the openings of chapters are particularly pertinent and revealing about Breton's significance in the archaeological work being done in Mexico in the early 1900s, her feelings for what she was doing, and the special regard of others for her. The conflict and instability of the Mexican Revolution in 1910 brought an end to the archaeological work of Breton and her associates. But not before she had managed to paint and sketch numerous Mayan relics of all types from pyramids to murals to pottery.

Wonderful account of an important life

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2005-11-14

This well written work is a fascinating account of how an English gentlewoman's color art saved a record of images painted by Mayans 1500 years earlier. Accompanied by her Indian guide, this incredible women spent several years in the Yucatan jungles making the only copies we have of this aspect of Mayan history. Most of those images deteriorated rapidly in the early years of the 20th Century. Highly recommended reading for all, even for those not familiar with that great civilization.

Adventures in Japan: A Literary Journey in the Footsteps of a Victorian Lady

Published in Paperback by Blue Panda Publications (2000-08-06)

Author: Evelyn Kaye

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A fascinating account.

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2000-07-03

Adventures in Japan provides a modern woman's story of following Victorian adventurer Isabella Bird's 1878 through northern Japan, where Bird is still remembered. Kaye's three-week journey provides a fascinating account of both her experiences in northern Japan and Bird's lasting influence in the region.

Unique, totally engaging, wonderfully well written.

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2000-09-08

Illustrated with color photos and black & white drawings enhance Evelyn Kaye's entertaining travelogue as she follows the 1878 route of Victorian traveler Isabella Bird through northern Japan. The adventure of a woman traveler in that part of the world in those days was so remarkable that Evelyn discovered that more than a hundred and twenty years later Isabella Bird was still remembered with her book still in print (in Japanese), community memorials erected in her memory, and the subject of a Tokyo television show! Adventures In Japan is a unique, totally engaging, wonderfully well written, enthusiastically recommended account of a personal journey through Japan as seen through the eyes of two women travelers, one from the 19th century and the other from the 20th.

ALEC FORBES HOWGLEN (Victorian fiction : Novels of faith and doubt)

Published in Hardcover by Dissertations-G (1976-02-01)

Author: Macdonald

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Two small children find that to stand they must first crawl.

Helpful Votes: 8 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 1997-11-06

Considered by many MacDonald's best novel, Alec Forbes of Howglen contains a diversity of characters, personalities, and locales, yet maintains an unstrained and unforced continuity in that there appears no attempt to contrive or incorporate that which is ill-suited or unbelievable. The plot and various subplots flow, commingle, diversify, and rejoin with no break in the natural stream of the story line. Whereas in many novels of such diverse and complex characterization, the reader is forced to backtrack or rethink that which has gone before, there are no such obstacles placed in the road of those who journey alongside Annie and Alec.

This is an absolutely wonderful tale of the lives of two children, Annie and Alec, as they grow into adulthood. Although from two distinct social classes, which occurrence provides ample and diverse challenges for our beloved hero and heroine, Alec and Annie find, after considerable difficulty, trials innumerable, soul-rending afflictions, natural disasters, and, in general, some rather horrific catastrophes, a slender, yet all-powerful, thread which binds them together.

Upon the death of her parents, Annie, who has known nothing but the idyllic life of the small farm, awakens to find everything that she has known and loved gone; her sole childhood companion and dear friend, Brownie-the family cow, as well as the remainder of the livestock, farm implements, furniture, and accessories sold, and she, poor little soul, on the way to live with her father's miserly, mean, hypocritical cousin, Robert Bruce, and his family of ill-bred mongrels, above their shop in town. She and a very small trunk, which contains her meager belongings, are unceremoniously stowed in an attic room which contains no curtains, no lights, holes in the floor, and is shared by rats.

Grieved by the loss of her parents and her home would seem misery enough for one small child, but she is further tormented throughout the day by the Bruce children, and throughout the night by her fear of the rats. School is no sanctuary, for it is ruled by a petty tyrant who holds the firm, unequivocal belief that "to spare the rod is to spoil the child," and he cannot abide a spoiled or disobedient child.

Alec, although far from wealthy, lives with his mother in a modest, but quite comfortable home near the edge of town. It is here that Annie eventually is driven to seek refuge from the countless horrors that stalk her days and nights. It is here, through the eyes of a mother, that Annie sees love sparkle and shimmer as it gently caresses, nurtures, and develops the soul of young Alec.

Follow Annie and Alec, as well as all who cross their paths and touch their lives, in this compelling narrative of real life. For life is not without its trials and tribulations, sorrows and sadness, pains and afflictions, yet it is by and through all such as these,-the manner, means, and motives by which we face and overcome all such obstacles-, that we grow into the men and women that God would have us to be. As a muscle will atrophy if it never meets resistance, so then will a soul wither and die unless forced to encounter the oppressive weights of affliction, self-sacrifice, and self-denial.

We, not unlike water, ever seek the path of least resistance. In this book, MacDonald adeptly illustrates that the best laid plans of men may not provide that which is best for men. God will pursue His plan regardless of our idle hopes, dreams, and speculations. As a result, we often find life, at best, difficult and trying, while, at worst, it may appear all but unbearable. There is, of course, a simple means by which we may "make the way smooth," and that is by doing as Jesus did-the will of His Father.

A Story of Growing Up in Early 19th Century Scotland.

Helpful Votes: 9 out of 10 total.
Review Date: 1999-07-07

This novel is quite different than the rest of George MacDonald's adult novels. It has more laughs by far, though the story as a whole tends tward the melodramatic. It is George MacDonald's most complex work, intricately weaving together the stories of the two main characters: Annie Anderson (approx. 10 years old) and Alec Forbes (approx. 13 years old) as they meet and grow up to young adulthood. Annie looses her father and is forced to move in with her miserly cousin Robert the Bruce, one of the town's shop keepers. Alec eventually goes off to the big city to medical school and is forced to decide whether he will face life's disappointments or dissapate his life away with alchohol.

The first half of this book is too sentimental and bucolic for my tastes and seems geared more tward an adolescent audience. However, the action in the second half more than makes up for it. I would caution the reader that this book has much more Scots dialect in it than some of George MacDonald's other popular works like "David Elginbrod" and "Donald Grant" and you would probably do better to tackle one of these first, so that you don't get too discouraged.

This book stresses character development and has little or no sermonizing. Much of the first half of this book is taken up with the experiences of the two main characters in the town's one room school house and the overly strict disipline meeted out by the school master. His favorite method of disipline is the tawse (a small leather wip flung down from the shoulder) and indeed in one instance he almost beats young Alec to death. The apex of the novel is a tremendous flood, and you will find your eyes filling with tears as your favorite characters struggle for their lives. And you will be satisfied when your least favorite character gets his just deserts.

Artist Of Wonderland: The Life, Political Cartoons, And Illustrations Of Tenniel (Victorian Literature and Culture Series)

Published in Hardcover by University of Virginia Press (2005-12-15)

Authors: Frankie Morris and John Tenniel

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life, work, and times of 19th century English artist John Tenniel

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-01-05

The illustrated biography of one of England's major 19th-century illustrators has about 180 of Tenniel's illustrations along with 30-40 other related ones. This outstanding, comprehensive, definitive work covers both Tenniel's biography and his artistic career. The career focuses on the two major factors of Tenniel's classic illustrations for various editions of "Alice in Wonderland" and his political and social cartoons appearing in "Punch" magazine for decades. The illustrator's style, caricature, and perspective are discussed in relation to political and social events and issues of the time, including Tenniel being caught up in the social controversy and legal proceedings surrounding "Punch" articles allegedly denigrating the Irish and Tenniel's related illustrations often picturing Irish men with simian-like or other animal-like features. But for the most part, Tenniel was a popular and successful artist because he portrayed with unmatched, unfailing skill and ingenuity England's image of itself as the world's leading colonial and commercial power with an enviable domestic political system. This included critical cartoons of some of England's policies and practices and leading politicians which were a part of the modern-day English political and media tradition. Tenniel's position among the handful of England's top illustrators is secure, and does not have to be supported by argument or claims. The art historian and Tenniel authority Morris mainly fills in the ground for Tenniel's acknowledged pedestal. For collectors, besides the numerous illustrations in the text tracing Tenniel's career and exemplifying his imagination and versatility, there is an appendix "A Guide to Tenniel's Unidentified Punch Work."

Text and Pictures, Classics Both

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-17

One cannot think of classic children's literature without including Lewis Carroll's Alice books, and one cannot think of Alice without the splendid illustrations of Sir John Tenniel. Indeed, the images of the little girl confronting monsters, mad characters, and suspensions of logic are familiar even to those who have not read the books (or had the books read to them). Tenniel's Alice illustrations are his masterwork, but there was much more to him, revealed in _Artist of Wonderland: The Life, Political Cartoons, and Illustrations of Tenniel_ (University of Virginia Press) by art historian Frankie Morris. For over a half a century Tenniel was a staffer at the magazine _Punch_, producing miscellaneous drawings, fanciful initial letters, headings, and more, eventually graduating to the big weekly cartoon which was a staple of the magazine. At his passing in 1914, it was recognized that he would be best remembered by his Alice illustrations, but he would not have been pleased that what he thought of as a secondary career of book illustration should have eclipsed his political cartoons. In her book, Morris corrects the balance, giving Tenniel's biography, then spending six chapters on aspects of the Alice illustrations and five more on the _Punch_ cartoons. Her book is big and handsome, and has plenty of example illustrations.

Tenniel was invited to _Punch_ by its first editor in 1850. At that time, the magazine had been in existence only nine years, but had already become a mainstay in presenting the conservative, middle to upper class views of Victorian England. It was not long before Tenniel moved up from doing small pictures to doing a title page, and eventually to the full page weekly cartoon that was to make him famous. At a Wednesday staff dinner, the subject and treatment of the cartoon would be discussed, and Tenniel would take the ideas and make them his; Morris shows how he simplified and intensified one image after another. It was often turned into a banner for different causes, handed around for group comment, pasted onto kiosks, or copied in other papers internationally. Lewis Carroll asked for Tenniel to do the illustrations for the first Alice book in 1863. Carroll was a fan of _Punch_ and the drawings therein. It was a nearly perfect partnership of author and illustrator. They were of the same class, both frank and honest, both lovers of the theater, Shakespeare, toys, and pantomimes, and especially they delighted in children. Morris's interpretation of the pictures will be of interest to anyone who loves the Alice books. For instance, there is much about how important pantomimes were to both Carroll and Tenniel. Carroll loved the holiday entertainments, as part of his affection for his child friends, and Tenniel called upon stage representations of pantomime characters to interact with Alice. There were, for instance, chess games in some pantomimes with human pieces; many of the chessmen Tenniel depicts are not chessmen at all, but are people dressed up in chessmen costumes. The same could be said of his Humpty Dumpty, or the leg of mutton to whom Alice is introduced.

Morris shows that Tenniel's political cartoons are important guides to British thought and sentiment of their times, and they have been frequently reproduced to illustrate history books. There are many that she shows here, and each has an explanation to put it into historical context; we require that, because they are from a strange and distant land and time. It is not so with the Alice illustrations, which come from a strange and distant fantasy source, but whose realistic representation of a bizarre world is beyond explanation. In this they are timeless classics. Any Alice fan will enjoy this good-looking volume, which is sure to become a main reference to Tenniel's life and art.

Book Smart

Published in Paperback by McGraw-Hill (2007-10-04)

Author: Jane Mallison

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This is a literary guide to be employed every day of a single year

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-03

Not reading the books that have endured in their reputation as literary gems for generation after generation of readers is akin to starving in the midst of an orchard of ripe, pluckable fruit. Jane Mallison is a self-acknowledged passionate and life-long reader of books. She was head of the New York Trinity School English Department from 1982 to 2004 and therefore employs a very special experience-based expertise in "Book Smart: Your Essential Reading List For Becoming A Literary Genius In 365 Days". This is a literary guide to be employed every day of a single year, at the end of which the reader will benefit from a month-by-month plan involving 120 of the most compelling books of our universal literary heritage. Presented on a January through December calendar, the suggested titles are organized thematically, ranging from titles that are 'Towering Works to Read in Translation' from Beowulf to The Aeneid; to 'Some Notable Biographies' from Flaubert's Parrot to "The Life and Times of Cotton Mather; to 'Winners of Major Awards' from Herzog to All the King's Men. The authors of these 120 recommended literary works range from Charlotte Bronte, Sophocles, Thomas Hardy, and Benjamin Franklin, to Joseph Conrad, Evelyn Waugh, James Thurber, and Voltaire. Each title is presented with a succinct description that includes historical notes, highlights on key themes and characters. Of special note is the cogent advice on how to approach reading. Ideal as a curriculum guide for highschool and college level English Literature curriculums, "Book Smart" is especially recommended for individual readers wishing to acquire a basic literary literacy. Especially since every single recommended title can be acquired for reading through a local public library, either directly or through their community library's free InterLibrary Loan System.

Witty, Graceful Erudition

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-19

This book is the real thing. The author's choices are solidly based and could well form the basis of fourteen to twenty-one year old students' literary education. But two other factors are very much present in this book and provide its true worth--Mallison clearly loves literature and she writes about her choices with remarkable brevity and wit. I do not remember such a graceful combination present in the myriad of Great Books and Great Literature guides published over the past forty years. Much needed and highly recommended.

Cape May, New Jersey : 2002 Calendar

Published in Calendar by Sea View Color (2001-05)

Author: Douglas Hunsberger

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Cape May Calendar

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2001-08-17

Great photos, attention to detail with resolution and content is suberb. Cape May is beautiful and this calendar shows that beauty very clearly.

Cape May Calendar 2002

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2001-08-06

The Cape May Calendar of 2002 is a visual feast of Victorian Cape May, New Jersey. Architecture only seen in Cape May, New Jersey make this calendar a collector's "treasure" of a by-gone era.

The photographs are of the highest quailty and resolution. If you imagine the history of this Victorian resort town could ever be represented in print, then this calendar delivers! I could almost smell the sea breeze and hear the waves washing up on shore as I reviewed month after glorious month.

Finally, a true depiction of Cape May, New Jersey is caught on a medium that can often disappoint a buyer of artistic calendars. I anxiously await the 2003 calendar and the beauty it depicts of our nation's first "Resort."

Captive of Kensington Palace (Victorian saga / Jean Plaidy)

Published in Paperback by Macmillan (1980)

Author: Jean Plaidy

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The Captive of Kensington Palace by Jean Plaidy

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-28

A novel about the sentimental and sheltered princess who blossomed into the most famous queen of all time ...

Description from the book back cover:

She was haunted by a crown and scepter. Young Princess Victoria was never allowed to be alone. She was always protected from political intrigue and royal scandal - a virtual prisoner of her ambitious mother and her scheming lover. It didn't take long for Victoria to become aware of the sinister conflicts surrounding her. There were those who were obsessed with usurping her future power by either violence or marriage. And there were those who were determined she would never take the throne. But no one could deny the glorious destiny that awaited her ...

The Captive Awaits her Destiny

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2004-01-15

Victoria is virtually a prisoner in Kensington Palace. Her mother and her mother's chamberlain, Sir John Conroy, are her guards. They will not allow her to associate with anyone that has not been thoroughly and critically checked to make sure Victoria is not made harmed by their very presence. Even her governesses are under scrutiny. She is not even allowed to be alone! Someone must always be with her. Her only hope is in contemplating her coming of age, whereupon she may be free and able to take her "Uncle King's" crown without her dreaded captures taking regency. Her best friends are her "dear" sister Feodora, married and living in Germany; her Uncle Leopold, her cousin-in-law and uncle as well as King of the Belgians; Lehzen, her faithful governess; the King and Queen, whom she is rarely allowed to see; and her cousins that she is also rarely allowed to see. She has scheming uncles trying to usurp her right to the throne, and family fighting over her. Every day she comes closer to her dream of adulthood, and her guards' despair at loss of power.

This is the first book in the Queen Victoria Series, as well as the first one that I have read in the series (I think that is how they plan for you to read them!). I have read the Royal Diaries version, as well as the A&E mini-series "Victoria and Albert". I was very pleased to find them saying the same things about Queen Victoria's early life. I also enjoyed reading about William IV's and Queen Adelaide's life, as they are usually passed over in history.

The Chalk Town Train & Other Tales (The Harper Chronicles, Volume One)

Published in Kindle Edition by Trafford Publishing (2001-10-19)

Author: Daniel Elton Harmon

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This Book Isn't Long Enough

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2003-06-14

These days, anthologies tend to either be collections of the year's best something-or-other or compilations of literary short stories intended to elevate and edify. Both have their place in the scheme of things, but I suspect I'm not the only one who misses anthologies that contain just good entertainment.

If that's the case, may I offer for your amusement a slim little volume of tales by journalist Daniel Elton Harmon and featuring an historical counterpart of the author's by the name of Harper. Mr. Harper is a reporter for the fictitious Columbia, S.C., CHALLENGE in the almost-civilized era of the 1880's. The first compilation of his adventures, THE CHALK TOWN TRAIN & OTHER TALES, is billed as volume one of The Harper Chronicles, and those of us who like nothing better than a rollicking good yarn will be waiting impatiently for volume two.

The title story pits Harper against a notorious sociopath, back before such people actually had a diagnosis. "The Chalk Town Train" is a story of corporate injustice, unadulterated evil and justice administered with more than a touch of irony. Indeed, the purveyance of justice is a recurring theme in the eight stories that comprising the book, with our man Harper using his skill and insight to ferret out the truth, sometimes when no one else can.

Mr. Harmon has a superbly deft hand with the short story, and his characters are sharply drawn with a few adept strokes. From first word to last, each of Harper's adventures proceeds without a stumble, and the reader who can stop after reading just one must have a will of iron. His style is crisp and effortless, setting scenes with an economy of language that likely owes much to the author's own career as a journalist.

Indeed, the only real flaw in THE CHALK TOWN TRAIN is that it's over too soon, and before the appetite is satisfied.

Great stories!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2001-12-23

Although this is the first book of fiction by Daniel Elton Harmon, it is far from his first published work. He has written more than thirty non-fiction books.

This is a fascinating collection of eight short stories, each featuring his late-nineteenth-century newspaper reporter hero, Harper. They held my interest to the end.

Harmon is a skilled writer, and I look forward to reading more of his work. He is a yarn spinner of the old school, reminiscent of Samuel Clemens or Booth Tarkington, who revels in story telling for the sake of story telling. A modern troubador. He lives in Lexington, South Carolina where he is well known not only for his writing, but also for his music making with his small folk music band, according to the book's introduction.

There are eight short stories in the book, all of which are quickly read and very entertaining. This is a wonderful book to read for your own pleasure, or to give as a gift. I recommend it highly.

Joseph Pierre,

author of The Road to Damascus and other books.

A Child of the Jago (Victorian Collection)

Published in Audio CD by Assembled Stories (2007-03-20)

Author: Arthur Morrison

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Average review score:

A Dickensian style novel said with much fewer words

Helpful Votes: 15 out of 15 total.
Review Date: 1999-08-08

The Jago was one of, if not the worst slums in London. Dicky Perrot is the main character of the story and we follow him form age 8 to about 17. His fight for survival and the responsibility he feels for his mother and sister whilst his Father is in prison makes you feel like crying. He has nothing and knows, as the local eccentric put it, that the Jago had got him and that there are only two ways out for him - to become a "Swellmobsmen" ( successful thief ) or death. Dicky is encouraged by the local Parson, Father Sturt, who is tireless in his work with the people of the Jago, to try to make something decent and honest with his life and enjoy all the things that the people who he robs enjoy and manages to secure him a job as a delivery boy for the local chandler. Unfortunately for Dicky he is dismissed thanks to an old friend who does not want him to take the straight and narrow path. After this Dicky goes down hill fast, he loses patience with his mother who takes to the Gin and leaves Em his sister to crawl in the gutter and fend for herself, his Father, disenchanted with life after coming out of prison, does his one last fatal job and at the end we see a small, poor desperate Dicky and like his old friend Beveridge told him years before, there are only two ways out of the Jago... Find out which way Dicky gets out in this excellent and realistic portrayal of life in a London slum at the turn of the century.

Harshly Realistic

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2003-03-20

Arthur Morrison's novel provides an excellent (if harsh) counterpoint to the relative gentility of Great Expectations or Wuthering Heights. You may be thinking, "Dickens and Bronte didn't pull punches," but read A Child of the Jago, and suddenly Pip's life will seem downright bucolic.
Morrison gives the reader a window into the seamy underbelly of Victorian London, and exposes unimaginable living conditions and inhuman treatment. This book is a must-read if you enjoy Victorian literature. It brings to life a part of London that must be experienced to be believed.

The Child, the State, and the Victorian Novel

Published in Hardcover by University of Virginia Press (1999-12)

Author: Laura C. Berry

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Average review score:

Victorian children redefined

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2005-02-25

This is quite a different take on what we might usually think of as typical Victorian sentimentality about children. The new readings of such classical works as Dickens's Dombey and Son and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights show that Lit Crit hasn't completely abandoned such all time favourites!

Good as lit crit; not so good for my son Frank

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2002-05-17

I bought this book to help me with my son Frank, who interest in Victorian novels has grown of late to unhealthy proportions. The other night I had to ask him seven times to come to the dinner table; while spooning down equal doses of butter rice in squash and pumpkin ice cream (the recipes for which are included in the index of this book!) he looked up only once from Wuthering Heights to announce that he wished he had tuberculosis.

Unfortunately, the book's excellent discussion of the development of the concept of "children" in the Victorian era is woefully short on advice. Last night Frank slipped a note under his door (he has been locked in his room for three days) announcing that he had become a poet, and to challenge me to a duel. This situation is not covered anywhere in Berry's book.

The surprise recipes included at the end of the text are delicious!

Victorian Books