Richard Holt Hutton: A Retrospective

Abstract

In the second half of the nineteenth century Richard Holt Hutton was widely regarded as one of the best minds and one of the most accomplished essayists of his generation. He wrote thousands of short articles while co-editing the Spectator for almost forty years, examining such diverse topics as non-conformist theology, parliamentary practices, Irish home rule, zoology, theater, literary criticism, and cultural concerns of the day. Although he has been ignored for the last several decades, and was in fact rarely referred to for much of the twentieth century (except, perhaps, as a sterling example of the shortcomings of much of Victorian prose), his arguments about the responsibilities of the literary critic and the nature of literary criticism make him an important source for understanding Victorian critical arguments. His opinions of the great voices of the Victorian period – Tennyson, Browning, Eliot, Hardy, Mrs. Oliphant and others – communicate to us over a century since the nature of their contemporary reception. Additionally, his essays on the ephemera of his time deepen and enrich our understanding of the Victorians and their world, making him a resource that should be embraced by any serious Victorian scholar.