In-yer-Victorian-face: A Subcultural Hermeneutics of Neo-Victorianism

Back in time for utopia: Neo-Victorian utopianism and the return to William Morris

“…One of the key insights of neo-Victorian studies has been that this flourishing of revivals and reinterpretations of the Victorian moment is a plural phenomenon; it fosters a variety of meanings and serves many functions (see Higson, 2003; Kleinecke-Bates, 2014; Mitchell, 2010; Primorac, 2018; Sadoff, 2010; Voigts-Virchow, 2009). In contrast to earlier approaches, particularly the emphasis in debates on heritage film on the conservative nature of depictions of the 19th century (see Higson, 1993; Wollen, 1991), my approach begins from the assumption that neo-Victorianism encompasses a variety of different attitudes towards the Victorian era, with this section outlining three different articulations of the neo-Victorian impulse: repudiatory, nostalgic and resonant.…”

“…For instance, recent adaptations of Jane Austen’s novels, with their emphasis on strong female characters fighting to ‘have it all’ in the face of patriarchal social relations, function as fables on the postfeminist condition (Ascheid, 2006; Primorac, 2018; Sadoff, 2010). In turn, neo-Victorian cultural artefacts, imbued with the distinctive concerns of the 21st century, recuperate lost, forgotten and repressed aspects of the ‘Victorian underworld’ (Voigts-Virchow, 2009: 109). Good examples here include the exploration of lesbian lives in 19th-century Britain in Sarah Waters’ (1998) novel Tipping the Velvet and the BBC’s Gentleman Jack (2019–present), as well as the focus on the radical movements, sexual politics and multiculturalism of late 19th-century Whitechapel in Ripper Street (BBC, Amazon, 2012–2016).…”

“…The utopias of Morris and others were set against the ‘Victorian values’ that have been celebrated by conservatives from the 1980s onwards. Instead, as Eckhart Voigts-Virchow (2009) notes of the quietly utopian disposition of authors such as Sarah Waters, neo-Victorians ‘harbour nostalgia for the more clearly defined enemy: the Victorian mainstream’ (p. 122; see also Ascheid, 2006). The overt misogyny, extreme capitalism and rampant racism of the Victorian era are thus, perhaps paradoxically, valued because of the clarity and boldness of the utopian visions that they helped to provoke.…”