Victorian Literature and Culture

Vernon Lee was a widely-read writer of 19th-century ghost stories, called the "cleverest woman in Europe." Her life story was pretty fascinating, too.

The loss and recovery of a poetic genre shows how the canon of literary history treats women writers the moment they start to gain attention and approval.

The Thames Tunnel, the world's first underwater tunnel, is still in use 175 years after its long-delayed opening, but you can't shop there anymore.

Tea is bound up in the nation's history of colonial expansion. British tea drinkers preferred Chinese tea at first, and had to be convinced on patriotic grounds to drink tea from India.

One scholar sees more in the Christmas food of authors like Charles Dickens—English national identity and class.

Austerity during WWII was hardly the time for pounds of exotic candy. Yet The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe prominently features Turkish delight.

Wax flowers were a major obsession of Victorian women, allowing them to combine art and industry.