Victorian

Tropes and genres
Related tropes/genres	Victorian AU, Historical AU, Regency, Historical Fanworks, Historical RPF, Steampunk
Related articles on Fanlore.

Britain's Victorian period (technically 1837-1901) is a popular setting for fanworks because it was a period of peace, prosperity, romanticism and mysticism with regard to religion, social values, and the arts, both from fandoms set during the actual Victorian era and Victorian AUs in other fandoms. This page concentrates on canonical Victorians. The term is sometimes extended to works from this time period not set in Britain itself or its colonies and dominions.

The later years of the period saw an enormous increase in literacy in Britain, fuelled by educational reforms, and the launch of dozens of magazines aimed at this new market, with a mixture of fiction and factual articles. New printing technology allowed them to be illustrated with photographs as well as line drawings. The Strand Magazine and the later Pearson's Magazine are probably the best remembered, but there were many others. Many important authors and artists of the period and the 20th century got their start in these magazines; examples include H. G. Wells, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and P.G. Wodehouse.

There are a number of fandoms canonically set during the Victorian era, based generally on the works of such authors as Charles Dickens and Emily Brontë, as well as such specific popular texts as Dracula and Sherlock Holmes. There is also a little historical RPF set during this era, for example featuring the Brontë sisters. Fanworks for these fandoms tend to be marked by an emphasis on historical accuracy, with authors being proud of checking minute details of dress and culture.

Example Fandoms

Set in the British Victorian era:

• Alice in Wonderland
• A Christmas Carol
• Dracula
• Fingersmith
• Jane Eyre
• The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne
• North and South
• Sherlock Holmes
• Stalky and Co.
• Tess of the d'Urbervilles
• Wuthering Heights

Set elsewhere in the British Empire:

• Anne of Green Gables
• Murdoch Mysteries

Set outside the British Empire during this period:

• Gone with the Wind
• Little Women
• Moulin Rouge
• Phantom of the Opera

Fanfiction Examples

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Fanart Examples

• Sherlolly (from Sherlock BBC) set in Victorian.
• FrostIron (of the The Avengers) set in Victorian.

Fanvid Examples

• By My Side, a X-Men: First Class RPS of James McAvoy/Michael Fassbender set in Victorian.

Forums

• C19 -- message board including North and South & Jane Eyre fanfiction, and discussion of the works of the Brontës, Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell & Thomas Hardy.

See Also

• Victorian AU for fanworks that take characters from a modern or future-set fandom and relocate them to a stereotypical Victorian era.