Nineteenth Century Thought

An
Introduction

An
Introduction

Edited
by

Anand Prakash

ACKNOWLEDEGEMENTS

INTRODUCTION

The Challenges

Literature in Society

A View of Developments in the Nineteenth
Century

The Immediate Backdrop

Rise of the Materialist Thought

Materialist Thought in the Social
Domain

Marxism

Changes in Mid-Nineteenth Century
Life and Their Bearing on Literature

Victorianism

Conclusion

KARL
MARX
AND
FRIEDRICH
ENGELS

Introduction

                   
I.
Mode
of
Production:
The
Basis
of
Social
Life

A.
  
The
Law
of
Social
Development

B.
 
Man's
Thought
Corresponds
to
His
Social
Relations

                 
II.
The
Social
Nature
of
Consciousness

               
III.
Classes
and
Ideology

CHARLES
DARWIN

Introduction

From
The
Descent
of
Man

JOHN
STUART
MILL

Introduction

From
The
Subjection
of
Women

MATTHEW ARNOLD

Introduction

Culture
and
Anarchy

From
Chapter
I.
S
we
e
tn
e
ss
and
Light
[Puritanism
and
Culture]

From
Chapter
II.
Doing
as
One
Likes

From
Chapter
V.
Porro
Unum
Est
Necessarium

I
warmly
acknowledge
Mr.
Sachin
Rastogi's
cooperation
in
seeing
this
book
through.
It should
have
been
out
early
in
2003
but distractions
and
minor
responsibilities obstructed
my
path.

I
was immensely helped in
working
out
and
clarifying
(for
myself) some
fine
points
of
argument
in
the
nineteenth
century thought in
the
course
of
interacting
with
my
third
year
English
Hons
students
of
2003
at
Hans
Raj whom
I
taught
Marxist
literary theory
and
cultural
materialism
 
during
the
year.
Each
student
in her
or
his
own
way
compelled
me
to
relook
my
initial
explanations and
consequently
modify
a
number
of
my
assertions.
The
names
include
Richa
Prakash,
Pragya
Kaushik
,
Nandini
Gupta,
Prerna
Kathuria
,
Rashi
Sabhiki
,
Priyanka
Changia
,
Sunaina
Sehgal,
Richika
Aggarwal,
Sandhya
Sharma,
Pooja
Yadav
,
Akanksha
Khanna,
Aimal
,
Sakshi
Uppal
,
Manasi
Gupta
and
Priya
Vardhan
.
To
these
I
add the
names
of
Richa
Bajaj
and
Amit
Bindal
(students
from
the
last year's
third
year
English
Hons
.)
and
Latika
Vashisht
(Economics
Hons
.
II
year).
I
express
my
sincere
gratitude
to
all
of
them.

Should
we
not
investigate
the
process
in
which
social
trends
are
formed? Sometimes
a
whole
society
gets
submerged
in
despondency
that envelops
its
day-to-day
as
well
as
larger
existence.
This
may
be
followed
b
y
an
era
of
optimism.
Such
is
life.
Thus,
we
have
an
age
of
reason, hope
uncertainty
or
anxiety,
one
or
other
feature
of
this
kind
leaving its
mark
on
an
epoch.
What
is
of
importance
for
us
is
that
some
ages
enjoy
association
with
philosophers,
thinkers
or
writers
all
of
whom
took
a
keen
interest
in
the
a
ffairs
of
their
time.
The
'age'
of
Shakespear
e
,
F
r
a
ncis
Bacon
or
Cromwell
would
be
an
example.
We
consider
this
a
positive development.
The
writers,
philosophers
or
st
a
t
e
smen
in question
se
e
m
to have
influenced
large
generations
with
whom
they interacted
through
dir
e
ct
contact
as
in
politics
and
social
reform or
indirect
l
y
a:s
in
educational-philosophical
writing.
Likewise,
in
the
context
of
Europe
in
the
eighteenth
and
nineteenth centuries
,
nam
es
of
vis
i
o
n
a
r
i
es
such
as
Tom
Paine,
Rousse
a
u
and
Goethe
and
Carlyle
come
to
mind.
They
are
inspiring
examples.
In
their different
ways,
t
h
ey
asserted
the
significance
of
new
goals
in
society and
moulded
the
consciousness
of
people
in
their
time.

It
is
educative
to
see
the
ni
n
eteenth
century
literature
as
greatly charged
b
y
the
thought
-
trends
of
the
time.
Most
of
it
seems
an expression
of
disturbed
and
angry
minds
in
the
midst
of
an
unkind
environment.
The
question
to
ponder
is
how
specific
trends
of
thought
and
behaviour
work
t
h
e
ir
way
into
the
literary
writing
of
a
period and
get
e
xp
r
essed
through
it.
What
is
the
link
betw
e
e
n
social
ideas
and
literature?

It
is
difficult
to
give
a
clear
answer
to
this
qu
e
s
tion.
No
one
can
tell how
individuals
with
fertile
imagination
evolve,
shape
and
present their
concerns
to
become
representative
voices
of
their
time.
Writers
do
not,
for
instance,
compose
pieces
merely
after
reading
a
particular book
or
participating
in
a
rally
of
protest
against
injustices
heaped
by a
social
group
on
the
masses,
which
act
in
another
manner
may
 
be extremely
essential
for
the
imaginative-creative
health
of
an
author.
Involvement
in
social
processes
does
assist
writers
in
gaining
a
view and
perspective.

Still,
writers
are
wary
of
d
e
picting
in
literature
a
particular
opinion
in
preference
to
others,
their
job
being
other
than explanatory,
analytical
or
argumentative
(these
mod
e
s
do
in
their
way
enter
the
literary
dom
a
i
n
and
register
their
critical
presence
in it).
Li
t
er
a
ture
has
an important
aesthetic
dimension
and is
thus
supposed
to
be
sensuous,
'
life-like
'
and
representational.
What
appears
to
happen,
t
h
e
r
e
fo
r
e,
i
s
that
following
a
distinct
logic
of per
c
eption
or
standpoint,
works
of
literature
grasp
and
project
the
sense
o
f
a
period
and
then
render
it
in
artistic
terms.

Of
course,
this
sense
is
greatly
strengthened
by
a
recognition
of
the
i
ssues
that
the
age
in
question
grapples
with.
In
the
process,
writers,
as
they
confront
their
r
e
a
der
w
ith
a
new
vision
gain
in
sharpness
of
repr
e
sentat
ion
and
a
strong
'political'
appeal.
With
the
help
of
li
t
erat
u
r
e,
r
e
a
ders
become
focused
on
their
own
environment.
T
h
i
s
is how
an
author's
act
of
in
t
erv
e
n
i
n
g
in
the
reader's
world
becomes
significant.
The
impact
in
many
ca
s
es
is
direct
and
telling.
Such authorial
interventions
rub
the
existing
politico-ideological
structure on
the
wrong
side
and
induce
the
controlling
powers
to
adopt
a repressive
intolerant
postur
e
towards
writers.
How
can
a
system
feel
comfortable
with
its critics?
There
is
no
doubt
that
apart
from
writers,
even
thinkers
and
ana
l
y
sts
of
the
age
have
an
equally
important
role to
pl
a
y
in
given
surroundings.
Thu
s
,
all
writers
invariably
share
popular
concerns
with
fellow
intellectua
l
s,
theor
i
s
ts
and
activists
.
All
of
them l
ive
'a
c
tivel
y
'
in
the
s
a
me
age
that
regulat
es
and
defin
es
their
e
n
de
av
o
urs.