Edwardian Era Novels

Now who has not heard of Edwardian Novels? The English have produced some of the masterpieces of literature. But when it comes to the Edwardian period, the novels were manuscripts of twentieth century realism. Realism came in varying forms whether it be through colonial adventures as those by Joseph Conrad and E.M Forster or through the finest sense of subtle humor by P.G Wodehouse.

Colonial romances generally portrayed the adventures of a sailor or colonial agent to distant lands of Africa or India and their trials and tribulations there. These romances were criticized a lot with the rise of post colonial literature by the likes of authors like Chinua Achebe.

The subtle humor of Wodehouse was also criticized by his contemporaries and the British Government for his portrayal of the British high class man as an absolute mess without his valet mainly through his celebrated character of Bertie Wooster.

While these were the main writers, a lot of other novelists flourished. Arnold Barett and J.M. Barrie were two famous writers whose works were greatly appraised. The Clayhanger trilogy and The First Wives Tale are some of the most famous works of Arnold Barett.

J.M. Barrie on the other hand is known for his classic tale, Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up. This was the story of a boy called Peter Pan who refused to grow up. He meets a girl called Wendy and together they have adventures in the magical land of Neverland. Based on this writer, a semi biographical film called Finding Neverland was made in 2004 where Johnny Depp played the role of J.M Barrie.

Some other writers who were widely acclaimed during this period were H.G Wells, Beatrix Potter, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Edith Nesbit, Kenneth Grahame and John Galsworthy. One of the characteristic that distinguishes Edwardian novels from other periods is that during this time there was a significant difference between popular literature and the high brow literature.

Literary criticism and short stories also achieved popularity. A.C. Bradley was a famous literary critic. Newspapers also became important and so did media barons. Thus their importance in promoting novels increased. Edwardian Novels however continued to have some of the best variations that no literature has ever seen before.