Routledge The Victorian Novelist: Social Problems and Change - Routledge

First published in 1987, this Routledge scholarly work explores how Victorian novelists drew from contemporary source material to address social problems in their fiction. The book provides direct connections between non-literary primary sources and the imaginative work of major authors like Dickens and Gaskell, enriching understanding of how nineteenth-century writers engaged with real social issues. Material is organised into three key geographical and social areas: the industrial north of England, London, and the agricultural poor. The collection features extracts from period writings, Government Blue Books, newspaper reports and articles that directly informed the fiction discussed, offering readers genuine historical context for understanding Victorian literature's treatment of social change and reform.