In Victorian England, the line between fiction and autobiography had little to do with the truthful representation of fact. For the Victorians, the autobiography (a term they themselves coined during the 19th century) was first and foremost, a purposeful narration. It would become a highly popular genre that would not only prompt a plethora of autobiographical publications, but also inspire numerous essays on the topic. These essays in turn shaped future autobiographies, and how they would be interpreted by eager audiences. Three writers in particular utilized this Victorian tradition to sift through experience and extract meaning. John Stuart Mill, Thomas Carlyle and Charles Dickens all crafted autobiographical material into works that shaped the Victorian Age.
In his article “The Victorian Approach to Autobiography”, Keith Rinehart notes that Victorians had two expectations from the genre: “to instruct and to delight”. These expectations mirror the early Victorian emphasis of “autobiography as a moral influence” and the late Victorian emphasis of “autobiography as art” (178). Although early nineteenth century critics recognized “the problem of moral and aesthetic values” in autobiographical material and the difficulty “of narrative form imposed upon stubborn fact” (Rinehart 180), these concerns did not override the inherent value of this unique form of literature.
John Stuart Mill recognized the power of one’s personal story. Although Mill’s Autobiography was published in 1873, his manuscript went through three revisions over the course of twenty years. Mill obviously viewed his work as a mode of instruction as he enumerates his threefold purpose in the opening paragraph:
[1] in an age in which education, and its improvement, are the subject of more, if not of profounder study . . . it may be useful that there should be some record of an education which was unusual and remarkable . . .[2] in an age of transition in opinions, there may be . . . benefit in noting the successive phases of any mind which was always . . . ready to learn and to unlearn . . .[3] a desire to make acknowledgment of the debts which my intellectual and moral development owes to other persons. (http://utilitarianism.com/millauto/)
Both Jack Stillinger and John M. Robson argue that Mill’s revisions move his narrative from a private voice to a more public voice underscoring a transition from factual events to narrative intent. This method of reflection and revision seems to be modeled after John Foster’s 1805 essay “On a Man’s Writing Memoirs of Himself” which proposes that autobiography should not be a chronological account but more of a transcendental like illumination of events in recollection. A comparison of all three drafts illustrates a conscious effort at selective characterization moving further away from carte blanche documentation of personal experience to a more formal arrangement of cause and effect.
Mill’s “unusual and remarkable” education and his close relationship with Mrs. Harriet Taylor (who would later become his own wife) lead to his advocacy of liberty, freedom of expression, and women’s suffrage, themes found in many of his essays including: “On Liberty”, “Utilitarianism”, and “The Subjugation of Women”.
Thomas Carlyle also understood the value of one’s personal experience. However, instead of attempting an autobiography, Carlyle utilized his life experience as fodder for works that were also intended to instruct. In Sartor Resartus, Carlyle describes his spiritual crisis of 1822. In “The Everlasting No”, a passage that moves from denial to disengagement, Carlyle details the devastation of losing faith in divine governance and the despair of finding life devoid of all meaning. This crisis, however, is countered in “The Everlasting Yea”, a chapter in which Carlyle expounds his new found secular spirituality.
This secular spirituality is attributed to his study of German philosophy, which led to one of his earlier works, an English translation of Geothe’s Wilhelm Meister. This German novel of growth and development did not find commercial success in America when it was first published in 1829, but it did find an admirer: Ralph Waldo Emerson. A year after publication quotes from Wilhelm Meister appear in Emerson’s journal, and in 1833, America’s preeminent transcendental philosopher paid his famous visit to Carlyle. Through the fictionalized expression of his own spiritual journey, Carlyle impacted the philosophy of an era.
Charles Dickens also utilized autobiographical information in order to create socially conscious writing. In her paper on “Dickens and Autobiography”, Jean Ferguson Carr believes that the author’s failure to produce an autobiography may have been related to “his frustration . . . with the process of ordering and explaining his life rather than with the revelation of specific detail” (452). Carr draws a parallel between autobiography and portraiture, noting that both transform the versatile into the static; the complex into the simple. We can see within his writing style (one grammatically riddled with subordinate clauses) an obvious preference for complexity.
Rather than force his life into “narrative sequences” with “implied progress” and “causal relationships”, Dickens utilized his personal experiences to create vivid characters in dramatic situations. By weaving social commentary into his narratives, Dickens was able to ‘instruct” as well as “delight”, tackling issues like child labor, class inequality, divorce, anti-sabbatarianism, and prostitution. However, where Carlyle wrote in philosophical abstraction, Dickens often wrote in caricature, preferring to exaggerate one or two distinctive features, creating literature that was more suited to the taste of the growing middle class.
At a time when industrialization and Victorian capitalism surged forward, the novels of Charles Dickens, championed the poor and disadvantaged. His prolific, serialized writing had the power to quickly change public opinion, and therefore the ability to incite political reform.
Like Mill and Carlyle, Dickens used autobiographical material to create purposeful narration that was honest in its intent if not factual in its content.
Works Cited
Carr, Jean Ferguson. “Dickens and Autobiography: A Wild Beast and His Keeper.” EHL 52.2 (1985): 447-469. JSTOR. Mercy College, New York. 14 February 2007.
Mill, John. Autobiography. 16 February 2007.
Rinehart, Keith. “The Victorian Approach to Autobiography.” Modern Philology. 51.3 (1954): 177-186. JSTOR. Mercy College, New York. 14 February 2007
Robson, John M. “Mill’s ‘Autobiography’. The Public and Private Voice.” College Composition and Communication 16.2 (1965): 97-101. JSTOR. Mercy College, New York. 14 February 2007
Vance, William Silas. Carlyle in America Before ‘Sartor Resartus’.” American Literature. 7.4 (1936): 363-375. JSTOR. Mercy College, New York. 14 February 2007 .
