Reviews for Eminent Victorians

The average rating for Eminent Victorians based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-03-27 00:00:00 James Martinez A wonderfully witty book that, a century ago, forever burst the bubble of glory that had up till then so reverently encased the shimmering Victorian Empire. I read it as a young guy and laughed uproariously at its irreverence, delighting all the while in Strachey�s finely pointed prose. To the bohemian denizens of London�s Bloomsbury District, Strachey�s oddly iconoclastic vantage point, his languid and world-weary witticisms and his immense mastery of his subject matter must have elevated him to urban myth status in their eyes. He turned Oscar Wilde�s dandyism into a form of cackling self-caricature in his stovepipe hat and collar-length black beard, loping down London boulevards with a John Lennon grin. He was too cool for rules. And he�s not widely read now. Indeed, his cleverness was never an adjunct of substance. Substance was the very balloon he wished to burst! But wit doesn�t always pay the bills. And you don�t get into heaven on irreverence. There has to be a middle ground in life, because extremes have no staying power. If you want to reach the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, you don�t go around with a chip on your shoulder. Many of us who laughed with Strachey when young now see a far greater value in the middle way he mocked. These upstanding Victorians he wrote about worked hard for their faith, and deserve our gratitude and respect, not our sneers. No, for as F.R. Leavis said, we are all part of the milieu of the Great Tradition. Even if we trash it.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-01-19 00:00:00 Joshua Sproull One should rather read Lytton Strachey�s �Eminent Victorians� if one is interested to gain an insight into how Strachey dismounts with relish Victorian heroes and values. My motivation to read this book has been generated from my interest in the Bloomsbury Group, which the eccentric Lytton Strachey (1880 � 1933) was a prominent member of. The Bloomsbury Group with its writers, artists, philosophers and intellectuals challenged Victorian and Edwardian values and Strachey�s witty and ironic reckoning with prominent characters such as Cardinal Manning, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Arnold and General Gordon was certainly shocking for the reader of the early 20th century. However, if one is interested in gaining a thorough knowledge of the life of these Victorians, I would rather not recommend Strachey�s book. This is first and foremost a literary work. Lytton�s historical approach is neither careful nor sound. John Sutherland writes in his introduction: �Eminent Victorians is not, we deduce, the work of a stickler for historical fact, documentary trustworthiness, or modern standards of scholarly citation. Art yes. Any amount of effort was lavished in that department. But accuracy was something else.�(p.xiii) Thus, as so often with history books, �Eminent Victorians� reveals more about the time it is actually written in (it was published in 1918) than the period it deals with. And it says something about Lytton himself too. Therefore, within the scope of my purpose of learning more about the Bloomsbury Group, this was a satisfying read, albeit a bit tedious at times. This has to do rather with me than with Lytton, though: I admit I was not that interested in Cardinal Manning�s or General Gordon�s fate as I was in the life of Florence Nightingale for that matter. I highly recommend the Oxford World�s Classics edition that comes with an introduction and notes by John Sutherland. The explanatory notes are very helpful indeed.