Neo-Victorian

Neo-Victorianismis anaestheticmovement that features an overt nostalgia for theVictorianperiod.

In arts and crafts

Examples of crafts made in this style would include push-buttoncordless telephonesmade to look like antique wall-mounted phones,CD playersresembling old time radios, Victorianesque furniture, andVictorian era-style clothing.

Inneo-romanticand fantasy art, one can often see the elements of Victorian aesthetic values. There is also a strongly emerging genre ofsteampunkart.McDermott & McGoughare a couple of contemporary artists whose work is all about a recreation of life in the nineteenth century: they only use the ultimate technology available, and since they are supposed to live anachronistically, this means the use of earlier photographic processes, and maintaining the illusion of a life stuck in the ways of a forgotten era.^[1]

Works of fiction

Neo-Victorian works of fiction are creative narrative works set in the Victorian period, but written, interpreted or reproduced by more contemporary artists.

Many neo-Victorian novels have reinterpreted, reproduced and rewritten Victorian culture. Significant texts includeThe French Lieutenant’s Woman(John Fowles,1969),Possession(A. S. Byatt,1990),Arthur and George(Julian Barnes,2005),Dorian, An Imitation(Will Self,2002)Jack Maggs(Peter Carey,1997),Wide Sargasso Sea(Jean Rhys,1966). Recent neo-Victorian novels have often been adapted to the screen, fromThe French Lieutenant’s Woman(Karel Reisz, 1981) to the television adaptations ofSarah Waters(Tipping the Velvet,BBC2, 2002,Fingersmith,BBC1, 2005,AffinityITV, 2008) andMichel Faber(The Crimson Petal and the White,BBC 1, 2011). These narratives may indicate a 'sexsation' of neo-Victorianism,^[2]and have been called "in-yer-face" neo-Victorianism (Voigts-Virchow).^[3]

Recent productions of neo-Victorianism on screen includeGuy Ritchie’sSherlock Holmesfilms and TV series such asSherlock,Ripper Street,Whitechapel,Murdoch MysteriesandPenny Dreadful.The neo-Victorian formula can be expanded to include Edwardian consumer culture (Downton Abbey,The ParadiseandMr Selfridge).

In dress and behaviour

Many who have adopted Neo-Victorian style have also adopted Victorian behavioural affectations, seeking to imitate standards of Victorian conduct, pronunciation, interpersonal interaction. Some even go so far as to embrace certain Victorian habits such as shaving withstraight razors,ridingpenny farthings,exchangingcalling cards,and usingfountain pensto write letters inflorid prosesealed by wax.Gothic fashionsometimes incorporates Neo-Victorian style.

Neo-Victorianism is embraced in, but also quite distinguished from, theLolita,AristocratandMadamfashions popular in Japan, and which are becoming more noticeable in Europe.

Social conservatives

Neo-Victorianaestheticsare also popular in theUnited StatesandUnited Kingdomamongcultural conservativesandsocial conservatives.^[4]Books such asThe Benevolence of Manners: Recapturing the Lost Art of Gracious Victorian Livingcall for a return toVictorian morality.^[5]The term Neo-Victorian is also commonly used in a derogatory way towards social conservatives.

Many of the things that seem commonplace in modern life began in the Victorian era, such as sponsorship, sensational journalism and popular merchandise.^[6]

Research

In September 2007,The University of Exeterexplored the phenomenon in a major international conference titledNeo-Victorianism: The Politics and Aesthetics of Appropriation.^[7]Academic studies includeNeo-Victorianism: The Victorians in the Twenty-First Century, 1999–2009.^[8]

Other foundational texts of neo-Victorian criticism are Kucich and Sadoff (2000), Kaplan (2007), Kohlke (2008-), Munford and Young (2009), Mitchell (2010), Davies (2012), Whelehan (2012), Kleinecke-Bates (2014), Böhm-Schnitker and Gruss (2014), Tomaiuolo (2018), and others.

In popular culture and literature

Neo-Victorianism can also be seen in the growingsteampunkgenre ofspeculative fictionand in music performers such asEmilie Autumn.Neo-Victorianism is also popular with, and in many ways prefigured by, those who are interested inVictorianaandhistorical reenactment.

Neo-Victorian details appear inThe Diamond AgebyNeal Stephenson,^[9]in which Neo-Victorians are one of the main groups of protagonists.

Carnival Diablois a Neo-Victorian circus sideshow that has been touring North America for 20 years.

Unhallowed Metropolis is aroleplaying gamebased in a Neo-Victorian setting.

References

^McDermott, David; McGough (1998).&:A History of Photography(1st ed.). Santa Fe: Arena Editions.ISBN 978-0965728027.
^(Kohlke)
^Voigts-Virchow, Eckart (2009). "'In-yer-Victorian-face: A Subcultural Hermeneutics of Neo-Victorianism ".LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory.20(1–2): 108–125.doi:10.1080/10436920802690604.S2CID 144373988.
^"Is This a" Victorian "Site?".Ladiesagainstfeminism. Archived fromthe originalon 2013-09-28.Retrieved2013-04-03.
^Lichter, Linda S. (1999).The Benevolence of Manners: Recapturing the Lost Art of Gracious Victorian Living(1st ReganBooks/Harper Perennial ed.). New York: ReganBooks.ISBN 978-0060987459.
^Sweet, Matthew (2001).Inventing the Victorians(1st U.S. ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press.ISBN 978-0312283261.
^"CFP | call for papers".
^Heilmann, Ann; Llewellyn, Mark (2010).Neo-Victorianism: the Victorians in the twenty-first century, 1999-2009.Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.ISBN 978-0-230-24113-8.
^Stephenson, Neal (2003).The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer(Bantam trade pbk. reissue. ed.). New York: Bamtam Books.ISBN 978-0553380965.