The Victorian Visitors: Culture Shock in Nineteenth-Century BritainGrove Press, 2002 M08 20 - 288 pages Like present-day New York, early-nineteenth-century London was an extraordinarily vibrant and creative metropolis to which visitors -- from scholars to social climbers -- went in search of wealth and fame. The Victorian Visitors lucidly captures the encounters between London and some of its most famous visitors who left an indelible mark on its culture. Among others, Christiansen reveals the great French artist Gericault painting the climax of a public execution and the finish of the Epsom Derby, Richard Wagner guffawing at anti-Semitic jokes in the restaurant of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Ralph Waldo Emerson driving Thomas Carlyle to distraction with his "moonshine" philosophy. A fascinating illustrated look at the cultural and social mores of nineteenth-century London, Christiansen challenges our stereotypes of Victorian England with vividly readable and often hilarious accounts of how British culture welcomed these remarkable foreigners. |
Contents
Theodore Gericault Painter | 6 |
Richard Wagner Composer | 42 |
Ralph Waldo Emerson Philosopher | 82 |
The Psychic Cloud Yankee Spiritrappers | 130 |
Sporting Chances Australian Cricketers | 159 |
The Teetotum Spin Exotic Dancers | 191 |
239 | |
Acknowledgements | 255 |
257 | |
Other editions - View all
The Victorian Visitors: Culture Shock in Nineteenth-century Britain Rupert Christiansen No preview available - 2000 |
Common terms and phrases
Aborigines Adeline Genée admiration Albert Hall Alhambra American artistic audience Australian ballerina Ballets Russes Bayreuth beautiful became British Browning called captain Carlyle Carlyle's celebrated century Clough colour concert Cosima Covent Garden Craigenputtock cricket culture dancers Dannreuther Diaghilev Dickens dinner Emerson Empire England English exhibition fashionable G. H. Lewes Gallery George George Eliot Géricault girls Grace hands Headlam Herr Home Home's horse Italian Karsavina Katti Lanner Lady later lectures Legnani letter Lidian lithographs Liverpool Loie Fuller London look Lyon match Medusa Melba moral never Nijinsky opera orchestra painter painting Paris Parry performance person play players Raft raps reported returned Richard Wagner scene seances seems skirt dancing social society spirit Spofforth Sporting stage Street talk Tannhäuser teetotum Theatre things Thomas Carlyle told took tour turned Victorian visitors W. G. Grace Wagner Wagner's music wife wonders wrote young
References to this book
The Soundscapes of Australia: Music, Place and Spirituality Fiona Richards No preview available - 2007 |