Byron and the Byronic Aug 5, 2008
What we call Victorian morality antedates Victoria's accession by at least two decades, and although Byron's social circle did not in fact obey the rigid middle-class code of sexual behavior, they paid it the respect of concealment. His impatience with every kind of fraud made him on the contrary ostentatious, communicative, defiant; implying what other men before and since Dante have seriously believed, that incontinence is not among the gravest sins. (The Atlantic Online)
Take a peek inside the world of 'Alice' Dec 13, 2007
Victorian morality was synonymous with honorable men, demure women, and docile children. Etiquette prescribed a precise system of behavior appropriate to baptisms, funerals, and every life situation in between. (USA Today -- Life)
12/7-16: ''A Christmas Carol' Dec 10, 2007
Written by Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol is a Victorian morality tale of the old and bitter miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who undergoes a profound experience of redemption over the course of one evening. A financier who holds everything but money in contempt, Scrooge is visited by three ghosts who show him things from the past, present and future and help change his ways. (AZCentral -- Entertainment)
Offbeat flicks for the season Nov 26, 2007
In this version, Murray is Frank Cross, a TV executive producing a live version of Dickens' Victorian morality tale. Frank lost touch with his family and his girlfriend, Claire, a long time ago. (Stamford Advocate)
Dec. 1-22: A Christmas Carol Nov 26, 2007
" A Christmas Carol is a Victorian morality tale of the old and bitter miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who undergoes a profound experience of redemption over the course of one evening. A financier who holds everything but money in contempt, Scrooge is visited by three ghosts who show him things from the past, present and future and help change his ways. The universal message is that the human spirit is capable of renewal. "It's never too late to change," said Corrin, adding "It's a really good message... (AZCentral -- Entertainment)
Arthur Conan Doyle Life in Letters Oct 31, 2007
Arthur Conan Doyle wrote to his mother about his love outside of his marriage and this provides the reader with an interesting insight into Victorian morality. It would appear from the letters that his mother was understanding of the situation unlike his brother in law E W Horning (author of the Raffles books). (Suite101.com)
Sex and drugs and phone-in rip-offs Mar 16, 2007
"When Janet revealed her pregnancy to the viewers, Biddy Baxter exploded in the gallery. I've never seen anyone so angry. She began smashing monitors and gnashing her teeth. It was actually quite terrifying, and I'm glad that I was well out of her way. I wasn't quite sure what was wrong, until I realised that Janet was not married. To Biddy's Victorian morality, this was obscene and quite the wrong thing for children to be watching. She went down to the studio floor and even as the closing... (Independent)
Commonweal's Ibsen Festival opens with updated production of 'Ghosts' Feb 22, 2007
The play was a critical commentary on Victorian morality, Cropp said. The title of the play refers to the ghosts that haunt us, he said. (Winona Daily News, MN)
A Pessimist in Flower: Jan 20, 2007
As Michael Millgate, his most painstaking biographer, has pointed out in Thomas Hardy: A Biography Revisited, Hardy was profoundly nostalgic for the customs of preindustrial England and yet deeply skeptical about the pillars of Victorian morality and religion. The remorse expressed in his poems about Emma is double-edged and hard-headed, capturing the games time plays on us by holding us captive to impossible desires. (Slate)
