Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Eminent Victorians: The Book That Redefined Biography - Iconoclastic Portraits of Victorian Heroes and Hypocrites

Eminent Victorians: The Book That Redefined Biography - Iconoclastic Portraits of Victorian Heroes and Hypocrites

Strachey, Giles Lytton

Paperback

Historical Figures

ISBN10: 2322534943
ISBN13: 9782322534944
Publisher: Bod - Books on Demand
Published: Mar 29 2025
Pages: 78
Weight: 0.23
Height: 0.19 Width: 5.83 Depth: 8.27
Language: English
Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey shattered conventions when published in 1918, launching a new era of iconoclastic history with its irreverent portraits of four Victorian icons: Cardinal Manning, Florence Nightingale, Dr. Thomas Arnold, and General Gordon. Strachey, a leading light of the Bloomsbury Group, wielded satire and psychological insight to expose the contradictions beneath their saintly reputations, forever changing how biography was written. The work opens with Manning's ecclesiastical power struggles, revealing how ambition masked as piety shaped the Oxford Movement. Nightingale emerges as both heroic reformer and tyrannical perfectionist her wartime achievements juxtaposed with personal ruthlessness. Strachey's take on Arnold dismantles the myth of the benign educator, showing how his Rugby School reforms bred militaristic conformity. The final portrait of Gordon, the doomed imperialist in Khartoum, becomes a searing indictment of British hubris. More than just Victorian biographies, these essays dissect an entire age's moral pretensions. Strachey's razor-sharp prose mocking Arnold's neat little sermons or Gordon's messianic delusions pioneered literary modernism in historical writing. His archival rigor (digging through diaries and letters) pairs with wicked humor to humanize legends, making this essential reading for understanding how Edwardians rejected Victorian certainties after World War I's trauma.

Also from

Strachey, Giles Lytton

View All

Also in

Historical Figures

View All