Define "Victorian"
I was listening to Radio-4 this morning, on my way to work. They were talking about the Brothers Grimm tales, and one of the academics said that there was no mention of middle classes in the stories because there was little chance of that class of person in Victorian times being able to affect their station, until one of the brothers was able to run for election to the local parliament.
This got me to thinking; I've heard Americans use the term "Victorian" when talking about houses built in the latter part of the 19th Century. If "Victorian" is also used in what is now Germany, what does that term mean to people outside the British commonwealth?
What does "Victorian" mean to you, if you're not in a nation that was subject to the rule of Victoria? Was the British Empire so ubiquitous that all nations refer to the time period of 1837 - 1901 in terms of what Britain was doing at the time? I know how central England was to the Industrial Revolution, but other nations defining themselves in English terms? Curious.
And yes - I'm using "England" to refer to the whole of the British Isles. In those times (and through until after WW2) the term "England" was commonly used to mean "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". According to QI, anyway ;)
This got me to thinking; I've heard Americans use the term "Victorian" when talking about houses built in the latter part of the 19th Century. If "Victorian" is also used in what is now Germany, what does that term mean to people outside the British commonwealth?
What does "Victorian" mean to you, if you're not in a nation that was subject to the rule of Victoria? Was the British Empire so ubiquitous that all nations refer to the time period of 1837 - 1901 in terms of what Britain was doing at the time? I know how central England was to the Industrial Revolution, but other nations defining themselves in English terms? Curious.
And yes - I'm using "England" to refer to the whole of the British Isles. In those times (and through until after WW2) the term "England" was commonly used to mean "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". According to QI, anyway ;)