Reading Groups

Victorian Historical Fictions: Dickens, Eliot, and Stevenson with Amanda Hollander

5 Sessions Thursdays, 6:00 pm EDT - 7:30 pm EDT October 10, 2024 to February 6, 2025

The Center for Fiction

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The ‘With Books’ option includes the titles required for this group at a 10% discount from our Bookstore.

Meeting Dates:
10/10, 11/7, 12/5, 1/9, 2/6
In Person at The Center for Fiction

Napoleon wrote, perhaps infamously, “What then is, generally speaking, the truth of history? A fable agreed upon.” That is especially true of historical fiction, in which history often serves as a fantastical landscape to explore contemporary anxieties. As Victorian authors had an abiding interest in presenting history as a literary setting, this group will cover three novels by writers from that era who set their novels in the eighteenth century.

Starting with George Eliot, moving into Charles Dickens, and finishing with Robert Louis Stevenson, we will look at how each author utilizes the eighteenth century as a way to reconsider the politics and pressures of the nineteenth. In Adam Bede, Eliot delves into the gender politics of rural communities. In Barnaby Rudge, Dickens explores religious and social turmoil through the Gordon Riots of 1780. Finally, Stevenson’s famous seafaring novel Treasure Island promises riches and adventure only to end in violence and horror. Through these three books, we will look at how history serves as inspiration and provides safe displacement to discuss controversial and divisive Victorian themes through fiction.

What to read in advance of the first meeting: Pages 1–305 of Adam Bede by George Eliot (Books 1–3 for those with alternate editions)

What to expect from this reading group: This is a seminar-style, discussion-driven reading group best suited for people who enjoy enthusiastic participation. While the group leader will provide supplementary information at the start of each meeting, it is not a lecture-style atmosphere.

Book List:

Adam Bede by George Eliot
Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Capacity: 20

Led by

Amanda Hollander

Amanda Hollander

A writer and opera librettist, Amanda Hollander holds a doctorate in Victorian and children’s literature from UCLA. She recently completed a fellowship with the American Opera Project. She has published several works of speculative short fiction and academic articles. You can find more about her upcoming projects at amandahollander.com.

About this series

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