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| Home > History of Literature > Literature In The 19th Century
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| | Modern Literature In The 19th Century
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The 19thcentury was perhaps the most literary of all centuries. Theatre and Opera existed side by side along with the novel, short story and magazine serials. The early part of the century was soaked in Romanticism and several other genres were being explored. There was a tendency towards exploration of folk traditions and old legends. The term Gothic had,by this time come to mean a desire for a romantic return to the times before the Renaissance. We have works like Anne Bannerman`s reworked legends of King Arthur and Merlin, Shelley`s gothic novel Zastrozzi. Other novelists include Wiliam Blake, Thomas Moore, Goethe etc
Another major development during this period was the beginning of the genre of childrens` literature for example Charles and Mary lamb`s publication of Tales Of Shakespeare, a simple retelling of some of Shakespeare`s plays in the form of little stories available to a child reader.
This period also saw the rise of women novelists who wrote about the prevalent times and their nuances from a women`s perspective. The most notable among them was Jane Austen who wrote Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Emma etc (though it was published anonymously) wherethe protagonist was always a level headed woman.
Another woman novelist was Mary Shelley who anonymously published Frankenstein which came to be known eventually,as the first science fiction novel and the template for the mad scientist sub genre was set.
Lord Byron, Shelley and Keats were luminaries whose works have stood the test of time and are as fresh as today.
In the mid 19th century magazines publishing short stories and serials became popular. Some of them were respectful while the others were often referred to as penny dreadfuls. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published a study in scarlet the 1st Sherlock Holmes story and the beginning crime fiction as a genre.
Bram Stoker published Dracula which is one of the best in horror stories even today.
When the 19th century ended the genres of horror, ghost stories, Westerns, children`s literature, crime, fiction, science fiction, historical novels and fantasy had all been made.
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