The Silver-Fork Novel

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Angela Tse (Hong Kong Polytechnic University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.07: English Writing and Culture of the Victorian Period, 1837-1901.
Vol. editors: Gillian Fenwick (University of Toronto), Grace Moore (University of Otago)

Domains

Literature Topic

Dates

Places

England (Location)

Genres and Modes

Novel

The silver-fork novel flourished between the mid-1820s and the 1840s, offering a rich portrayal of contemporary fashionable life. The name of the genre comes from the essay “The Dandy School” by William Hazlitt, published in The Examiner in 1827:

A writer of this accomplished stamp, comes forward to tell you, not how his hero feels on any occasion, for he is above that, but how he was dressed, and makes him a mere lay-figure of fashion with a few pert, current phrases in his mouth. … Then he gives you the address of his heroine’s milliner, lest any shocking surmise should arise in your mind of the possibility of her dealing with a person of less approved taste, and also informs you t…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

2989 words

Citation: Tse, Angela. "The Silver-Fork Novel". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 October 2019 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19315, accessed 26 April 2024.]

Save this article