History and Cultural Memory in Neo-Victorian Fiction

In 1918 Ezra Pound coined the term ‘Victoriana' as a way of pejoratively
characterising the Victorian past: ‘For most of us, the odour of defunct
Victoriana is so unpleasant ... that we are content to leave the past
where we find it' (cited in Gardiner, 2004: 168). In stark contrast to Pound's confident marginalisation of the Victorian past at the outset of the twentieth century, a steady interest in things Victorian gained momentum in the second half of the same century until, in the final decades, a fascination with the period invaded film, television, trends in interior decoration, fashion, genealogy, advertising, museums, historical re-enactments, politics and scholarship about the Victorian period.
[2010]

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