Introduction: Critiquing the Victorian Critics

Abstract

This Special Issue of Nineteenth-Century Prose has been assembled to add to the growing body of critical commentary on Victorian critical theory and practice. The study of Victorian critics has been a time-honored tradition among academics. Until recently, however, Victorian criticism was more honored by passing nods to its importance for understanding the Victorians’ views on canonical works of poetry and fiction rather than valued as a way to understand the cultural milieu in which those works were produced. To provide some context for this issue, a history lesson of sorts seems in order.