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While in the preceding Romantic period poetry had been the dominant genre, it was the novel that was most important in the Victorian period. Charles Dickens (1812–1870) dominated the first part of Victoria's reign: his first novel, ''Pickwick Papers'', was published in 1836, and his last ''Our Mutual Friend'' between 1864–5. William Thackeray's (1811–1863) most famous work ''Vanity Fair'' appeared in 1848, and the three Brontë sisters, Charlotte (1816–55), Emily (1818–48) and Anne (1820–49), also published significant works in the 1840s. A major later novel was George Eliot's (1819–80) ''Middlemarch'' (1872), while the major novelist of the later part of Queen Victoria's reign was Thomas Hardy (1840–1928), whose first novel, ''Under the Greenwood Tree'', appeared in 1872 and his last, ''Jude the Obscure'', in 1895. Robert Browning (1812–89) and Alfred Tennyson (1809–92) were Victorian England's most famous poets, though more recent taste has tended to prefer the poetry of Thomas Hardy, who, though he wrote poetry throughout his life, did not publish a collection until 1898, as well as that of Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89), whose poetry was published posthumously in 1918. Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) is also considered an important literary figure of the period, especially his poems and critical writings. Early poetry of W. B. Yeats was also published in Victoria's reign. With regard to the theatre it was not until the last decades of the nineteenth century that any significant works were produced. This began with Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operas, from the 1870s, various plays of George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) in the 1890s, and Oscar Wilde's (1854–1900) ''The Importance of Being Earnest'' in 1895. == Novelists == Charles Dickens is the most famous Victorian novelist. Extraordinarily popular in his day with his characters taking on a life of their own beyond the page, Dickens is still one of the most popular and read authors of that time period. His first novel, ''The Pickwick Papers'' (1836), written when he was twenty-five, was an overnight success, and all his subsequent works sold extremely well. The comedy of his first novel has a satirical edge and this pervades his writing. Dickens worked diligently and prolifically to produce the entertaining writing that the public wanted, but also to offer commentary on social problems and the plight of the poor and oppressed. His most important works include "Oliver Twist" (1837–1838), "A Christmas Carol" (1843), "Dombey and Son" (1846–1848), "David Copperfield" (1848 - 1850), "Bleak House" (1852 - 1853), "Little Dorrit" (1855 - 1857), "A Tale of Two Cities" (1858 - 1859), and "Great Expectations" (1860 -1861).There is a gradual trend in his fiction towards darker themes which mirrors a tendency in much of the writing of the 19th century. William Thackeray was Dickens' great rival in the first half of Queen Victoria's reign. With a similar style but a slightly more detached, acerbic and barbed satirical view of his characters, he also tended to depict a more middle class society than Dickens did. He is best known for his novel ''Vanity Fair'' (1848), subtitled ''A Novel without a Hero'', which is an example of a form popular in Victorian literature: a historical novel in which recent history is depicted. Anne, Charlotte and Emily Brontë produced notable works of the period, although these were not immediately appreciated by Victorian critics. ''Wuthering Heights'' (1847), Emily's only work, is an example of Gothic Romanticism from a woman's point of view, which examines class, myth, and gender. ''Jane Eyre'' (1847), by her sister Charlotte, is another major nineteenth century novel that has gothic themes. Anne's second novel ''The Tenant of Wildfell Hall'' (1848), written in realistic rather than romantic style, is mainly considered to be the first sustained feminist novel. Later in this period George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), published ''The Mill on the Floss'' in 1860, and in 1872 her most famous work ''Middlemarch''. Like the Brontës she published under a masculine pseudonym. In the later decades of the Victorian era Thomas Hardy was the most important novelist. His works include ''Under the Greenwood Tree'' (1872), ''Far from the Madding Crowd'' (1874), ''The Mayor of Casterbridge'' (1886), ''Tess of the d'Urbervilles'' (1891), and ''Jude the Obscure'' (1895). Other significant novelists of this era were Elizabeth Gaskell (1810–1865), Anthony Trollope (1815–1882), George Meredith (1828–1909), and George Gissing (1857–1903). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Victorian literature」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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