19th Century Literature

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What happened in the West during the 19th century was pretty much what you'd expect from a society whose religious and philosophical foundations had been shaken to the root after centuries of overt Christian influence. There were basically three possible responses: to reject Christianity and accept the new humanism wholesale; to try to maintain a balance between the two; or, to maintain complete allegiance to the Christian faith and defend it against the growing number of anti-Christian ideas.

Unfortunately, those in the latter group often reverted to a simple anti-intellectualism that, far from upholding a solid Christian worldview, undermined the faith to which they so desperately clung. Those who didn't go to that extreme often went to another—in their attempt to remain intellectually relevant, many Christian writers and thinkers began to embrace the increasingly unchristian ideas surfacing, and try to collate them with orthodox doctrine. It was a confusing time, and the lines of Christian culture and secular culture began to blur in increasingly bizarre ways.

For one thing, theologians began to adopt the view that science and faith were separate realms, and that each had its own realm of authority on which the other could not infringe. Charles Darwin's theory of general evolution was obviously instrumental in fostering this idea, but other forward strides in practical science like the mechanization of the Industrial Revolution, improvements in medical knowledge, and a growing sense that only what could be observed was "real" were just as influential.

It all went back to Progress, really. The Enlightenment ideal of man's interminable forward movement through the centuries meant that things were getting better, and with things demonstrably getting better it was hard for many to argue. Because many of the philosophical ideas that accompanied scientific progress were rooted in humanism rather than Christianity, people assumed the two were incompatible to some degree, and to be reconciled they had to be separated.

Not everyone was happily devoted to Progress, however. One of the 19th century's dominant literary movements was devoted to the opposite. Romanticism was as much a child of the Enlightenment as scientism, but instead of going forward they grasped Rousseau's idea that man is at his best when at his most natural, and went backward. Or tried—praising nature, deriding civilization and technology, and pursuing free love is easier evoked in poetry than practiced in real life, as its leaders soon discovered. Still, men like Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge left behind some of the greatest verse ever written.

The Victorians were certainly influenced by Romanticism and the Enlightenment, but they were a little more balanced. Writers like Charles Dickens (possibly the greatest novelist of all time) and William Makepeace Thackeray combined Christian themes, satire, social activism and a heightened aesthetic sense to simultaneously comment on and delight the culture at large. In many ways the novel came into its own during this period, though some of its best practitioners were still 50-100 years in the future.

In the New World a particularly American version of Romanticism took hold. Transcendentalism as espoused by Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, and Henry David Thoreau was less organized than its Continental counterpart. It was also less rooted in Western tradition, at least, in the Classical Western tradition; the Transcendentalists preferred biblical symbolism, particularly the Old Testament with its often unsettling and apocalyptic imagery.

No era can claim a single literary or intellectual trajectory, but each phase in human history has its own zeitgeist, the spirit of the age. For the 19th century it was the final shift of authority away from any Divine source and onto the shoulders of man. There were great Christian writers who tried to stem the tide (Robert Browning, R. L. Dabney, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, and Charles Ryrie come readily to mind), but secular man was having his heyday and mostly prevailed in the public sphere.

Without the 19th century we wouldn't have most of the fiction genres we enjoy now. Mystery and detective fiction, science fiction, fantasy, escapist adventure novels, realistic historical fiction, etc., all came into being between the beginning of the French Republic and the founding of Major League Baseball. Whatever your opinion of the ideas rampant in these works, these are some of the best philosophical treatises, novels, poems, short stories, and essays history has to offer.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.

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19th Century Literature

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French Literature

	20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Sterling Classics by Jules Verne, translated by Lewis Page Mercier and illustrated by Scott McKowen from Sterling Publishing Co. for 5th-10th grade in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI)
	20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Bantam Classics by Jules Verne, translated by Anthony Bonner from Bantam Books Science Fiction for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $5.99
	20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Windermere Readers #19 by Jules Verne, translated by Philip Schuyler Allen 1956 printing from Rand McNally for 10th-Adult in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $10.00 (2 in stock)
	20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Windermere Series 2 (Cover 1) by Jules Verne, translated by Philip Schuyler Allen from Rand McNally for 10th-Adult in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
	20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Windermere Series 2 (Cover 2) by Jules Verne, translated by Philip Schuyler Allen from Rand McNally for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Windermere Series 3 by Jules Verne, translated by Philip Schuyler Allen from Rand McNally for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Windermere Series 4 by Jules Verne, translated by Philip Schuyler Allen 1935 Edition from Rand McNally for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Alexandre Dumas Three Musketeers Collection Oxford World's Classics by Alexandre Dumas from Oxford University Historical Fiction/Adventure for 9th-12th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Around the World in 80 Days Reader's Digest World's Best Reading by Jules Verne from Reader's Digest for 8th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne, George M. Towle (Translator) from Bantam Books for 7th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $5.95 $3.00 (1 in stock)
	Around the World in Eighty Days Sterling Classics by Jules Verne, illustrated by Scott McKowen Unabridged from Sterling Publishing Co. Adventure for 6th-10th grade in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
	Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne, translated by William Butcher Reprint from Oxford University for 8th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $9.95
	Around the World in Eighty Days Books of Wonder by Jules Verne, illustrated by Barry Moser from William Morrow & Company Adventure for 6th-10th grade in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
	Complete Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, translated by Emanuel J. Mickel from Indiana University Press for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, translated, with an introduction and notes, by Robin Buss from Penguin Classics Realistic Fiction/Adventure for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $16.00
	Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, translation by Robin Buss from Modern Library Realistic Fiction/Adventure for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Count of Monte Cristo (abridged) Signet Classics by Alexandre Dumas, introduction by Roger Celestin from Signet Classics Realistic Fiction/Adventure for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $6.95
	Count of Monte Cristo (adapted) by Alexandre Dumas, adapted by Edward Robinson and illustrated by Hamilton Greene from Simon and Schuster for 5th-Adult in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
	Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand from Bantam Books Drama for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $2.50 (2 in stock)
	Cyrano de Bergerac Dover Thrift Editions by Edmond Rostand from Dover Publications Drama for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $4.00 $2.00 (2 in stock)
	Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand, translated by Brian Hooker 1963 Reprint from Heinemann Educational Books Drama for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $2.50 (1 in stock)
	Democracy in America And Two Essays on America Penguin Classics by Alexis De Tocqueville from Penguin Classics American Government for 11th-12th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $15.00
	Democracy in America And Two Essays on America by Alexis De Tocqueville from Harper Perennial American Government for 11th-12th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $22.99
	Democracy in America And Two Essays on America Penguin Classics by Alexis De Tocqueville from Bantam Books American Government for 11th-12th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac, translated by Ellen Marriage, introduction by Richard Aldington, illustrations by Rene ben Sussan from Heritage Press for 10th-Adult in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $10.00 (1 in stock)
	Five Weeks in a Balloon by Jules Verne, translated by William Lackland and illustrated by Edouard Riou Illustrated Fir from SeaWolf Press for 5th-10th grade in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $9.95
	Germinal by Emile Zola from Heritage Press for 9th-12th grade in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
	Hunchback of Notre Dame Signet Classics by Victor Hugo from Signet Classics Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $5.95
	Journey to the Center of the Earth Sterling Classics by Jules Verne, illustrated by Scott McKowen from Sterling Publishing Co. Science Fiction for 6th-10th grade in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI)
	Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne from Reader's Digest for 8th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $8.00 (1 in stock)
	Journey to the Centre of the Earth Great Illustrated Classics by Jules Verne from Dodd, Mead & Co. Science Fiction for 6th-10th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Last Cavalier Being the Adventures of Count Sainte-Hermine in the Age of Napoleon by Alexandre Dumas from Pegasus Books Historical Romance for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Les Miserables Signet Classics by Victor Hugo, translated by Lee Fahnestock & Norman MacAfee from Signet Classics Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $11.99
	Les Miserables Modern Library by Victor Hugo, translated by Julie Rose from Modern Library Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $20.00
	Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, translated by Charles Wilbour from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $42.00
	Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, translated by Isabel F Hapgood from Fall River Press Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Les Miserables Modern Library by Victor Hugo, translated by Norman Denny from Penguin Classics Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, translated by Lascelles Wraxall and illustrated by Lynd Ward from Heritage Press Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Les Miserables (abridged) by Victor Hugo, supplementary materials written by Margaret Brantley from Simon and Schuster Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $7.99
	Louise de la Valliere Alexandre Dumas Collection #4 by Alexandre Dumas from Oxford University Historical Fiction/Adventure for 9th-12th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $15.95
	Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert from Dover Publications for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $3.50 $2.00 (1 in stock)
	Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert from International Collectors Library for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, translated by J. Lewis May and illustrated by Pierre Brissaud & Théo Schmied from Easton Press for 10th-Adult in Leather Bound Collectible Books (Location: VIN-LEA)
	Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, translated by Francis Steegmuller and illustrated by Honore Daumier from Random House for 11th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $8.00 (1 in stock)
	Man in the Iron Mask Signet Classics by Alexandre Dumas from Signet Classics Historical Fiction/Adventure for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $7.95
	Man in the Iron Mask Signet Classics by Alexandre Dumas from International Collectors Library Historical Fiction/Adventure for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Man in the Iron Mask Alexandre Dumas Collection #5 by Alexandre Dumas from Oxford University Historical Fiction/Adventure for 9th-12th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $14.95
	Mysterious Island Signet Classics by Jules Verne from Signet Classics Science Fiction for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $7.95
	Mysterious Island by Jules Verne, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth from Charles Scribner's Sons Science Fiction for 8th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Mysterious Island by Jules Verne, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth from SeaWolf Press Science Fiction for 10th-Adult in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $15.95
	Mysterious Island by Jules Verne, illustrated by Edward A. Wilson from Heritage Press Science Fiction for 8th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Napoleon's Russian Campaign by Count Philippe-Paul de Segur from Time-Life Books for 11th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $2.00 (1 in stock)
	Nobody's Boy by Hector Malot, translated by Florence Crewe Jones, illustrated by Thelma Gooch and Johnny Gruelle from Inheritance Publications for 6th-9th grade in Inheritance Fiction (Location: FIC-WH03) $14.95
	Paris in the Twentieth Century The Lost Novel by Jules Verne from Random House for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $15.00
	Selected Stories Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant from Franklin Library for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Short Stories of de Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant from International Collectors Library for 10th-Adult in Clearance: Literature (Location: ZCLE-LIT)
	Thais, The Crime of Sylvester Bonnnard by Anatole France from Walter J. Black, Inc. for Adult in Walter J. Black Classics Club (Location: VIN-LITWJB)
	Three Musketeers Signet Classics by Alexandre Dumas from Signet Classics Historical Fiction/Adventure for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $8.95
	Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas Collection #1 by Alexandre Dumas from Oxford University Historical Fiction/Adventure for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $12.95
	Three Musketeers Everyman's Library by Alexandre Dumas from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $32.00
	Three Musketeers Rainbow Classics by Alexandre Dumas, illustrated by C. Walter Hodges from World Publishing Company Historical Fiction/Adventure for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Three Musketeers Windermere Readers #20 by Alexandre Dumas, translated by Philip Schuyler Allen 1954 Edition from Rand McNally Historical Fiction/Adventure for 9th-Adult in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $9.00 (2 in stock)
	Three Musketeers Easton Press Library by Alexandre Dumas, illustrated by Edy Legrand from Easton Press for 10th-Adult in Leather Bound Collectible Books (Location: VIN-LEA)
	Three Musketeers Everyman's Library by Alexandre Dumas, translated by William Barrow and illustrated by Edouard Zier from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. in Everyman's Library Children's Classics (Location: FIC-ELC) $18.95
	Three Musketeers Reader's Digest World's Best Reading by Alexandre Dumas, illustrated by Rowland Wheelwright 1999 Edition from Reader's Digest for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Three Musketeers Macmillan Classics by Alexandre Dumas, illustrated by James Daugherty 2nd Printing, 1923 from Macmillan for 10th-Adult in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
	Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, illustrated by Valenti Angelo from Three Sirens Press for 10th-Adult in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
	Three Musketeers Windermere Series 3 by Alexandre Dumas, translated by Philip Schuyler Allen 1954 Edition from Rand McNally Historical Fiction/Adventure for 9th-Adult in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
	Three Musketeers Windermere Series 4 by Alexandre Dumas, translated by Philip Schuyler Allen 1933 printing from Rand McNally Historical Fiction/Adventure for 9th-Adult in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
	Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Signet Classics by Jules Verne, translated by Mendor Brunetti from Signet Classics Science Fiction for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $5.95
	Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne from Nelson Doubleday, Inc. for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Seawolf Classics by Jules Verne, translated by F. P. Walter Illustrated 1875 from SeaWolf Press for 10th-Adult in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $15.45
	Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, illustrated by Milo Winter from Barnes & Noble for 10th-Adult in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI)
	Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Oxford World's Classics by Jules Verne, translated by William Butcher 2^nd edition from Oxford University for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $12.95
	Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, translated by Philip Schuyler Allen and illustrated by Joseph Ciardiello from Reader's Digest for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, with essays by Matthew Booth and David Stuart Davis from Worth Press for 10th-Adult in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI)
	Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, translated by Lewis Page Mercier and illustrated by Edward A. Wilson from Heritage Press for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, translated by Lewis Page Mercier and illustrated by W. J. Aylward from Charles Scribner's Sons for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Vintage Classics by Jules Verne, translated by Henry Frith from Vintage Classics Science Fiction for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $10.00
	Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas by Jules Verne, translated by Lewis Page Mercier and Ron Miller, illustrated by Ron Miller from Unicorn Publishing House for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Twenty Years After Alexandre Dumas Collection #2 by Alexandre Dumas Reissue from Oxford University Historical Fiction/Adventure for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $16.95
	Vicomte de Bragelonne Alexandre Dumas Collection #3 by Alexandre Dumas from Oxford University Historical Fiction/Adventure for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $15.95

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