Victorians! discussion

I've read a few Victorian era books now, and I've noticed several leave out the year and/or names of cities. For example, in Jane Eyre they often refer to some place as ---shire.

Does anyone know the reason they leave this stuff out in the books? It seems strange to read a book and see a date like October 1, 18--.

Thanks in advance!

Kyle wrote: "I've read a few Victorian era books now, and I've noticed several leave out the year and/or names of cities. For example, in Jane Eyre they often refer to some place as ---shire.

Does anyone ..."


I always thought that the location was kept abstract in order to give the writer as much freedom as possible. For example, had Jane Eyre been set in, lets say Yorkshire (perhaps Howarth). Then someone could have said, perhaps, the house had too many windows or that such and such a flower did not grow in that part of the country. Whereas, if the place was unspecified, universal then no such critiques could be made. Perhaps, the same may be argued for the date In addition,especially in the Bronte's case , perhaps they wanted to hide the location in order to keep their identities private. Perhaps, they thought that if they set their work in Yorkshire people might put two and two together.

Good question! I have wanted to know this too.

I agree with Vikz that much of the reason behind the elimination of certain names and dates is for generalization and longevity, as well as anonymity. I also recall hearing something in one of my lit classes suggesting that proper names were often left out of novels to prevent any scandal within the novel from being associated with any real place, and thus affecting that locale's reputation (good ol' Victorians would avoid even fictional scandal to maintain respectability).
For example, though she's not technically Victorian, take Jane Austen; in Pride and Prejudice she refers to the militia quartered nearby as the "-----shire," probably to keep the events separated from actual history, but also to keep any actual regiment from being associated with a character like Wickham (and thus printing something that could be considered libelous).

Very interesting. George Gissing does the same thing, though usually with people's names.