Though it is difficult to tell exactly what may have influenced authors who published novels a century ago, we can gain some insight into the minds of writers by looking at primary sources of the same time period. In our Modern Literature course, we read Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent, Marie Belloc Lowndes' The Lodger, Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, all of which were published in the early twentieth century. As part of our discussion, we examined primary sources that may have influenced these authors while they wrote.
Conrad's The Secret Agent was very loosely based on the Greenwich Bombing in 1894. Newspapers of this time relied on artists' renditions of events, as there were not photographs to rely on. Therefore, artists had free range to draw what they or the newspaper editors wanted to publish, so it is unknown if these people had any hidden agenda. It is likely the purpose of these photos was to paint anarchists in a negative light. Seeing this, Conrad may have decided to do the same with his fictional anarchists.
In 1888, every London newspaper was publishing stories on the horrific Whitechapel murders perpetrated by the infamous Jack the Ripper. Alongside these articles were illustrations depicting the aftermath of the murders, as well as threats towards the Ripper himself and false articles written in the frenzy of the entire scandal. Newspapers were largely important to the Buntings in The Lodger. Lowndes and other Londoners probably had no idea that many of the newspapers were exaggerating or overtly lying.
Celebrated author, Virginia Woolf explored depression, schizophrenia, and post-traumatic stress disorder in her novel, Mrs. Dalloway; all of these psychological disorders were wildly misunderstood at the time the novel was written. People attempted to grasp what was happening to their friends and family members, but these attempts were unsuccessful. A large reason for Woolf writing of psychological issues was that she herself suffered from them and wanted to figure her own mind out.
Huxley created Brave New World, in which all the characters receive constant medication in the form of pills called “soma.” During the 1930s, there were seemingly insane misconceptions about the effects of different drugs. Because of these fallacies, people, including talented authors, did not have any understanding of drugs. Therefore, drugs may have seemed to not have any negatives.
Throughout the four novels, there was a theme of incompetence among government and police during the early twentieth century London. There was also the clear theme of people simply not understanding other people and other peoples’ struggles; a lot of these fictional characters are very selfish.
Conrad's The Secret Agent was very loosely based on the Greenwich Bombing in 1894. Newspapers of this time relied on artists' renditions of events, as there were not photographs to rely on. Therefore, artists had free range to draw what they or the newspaper editors wanted to publish, so it is unknown if these people had any hidden agenda. It is likely the purpose of these photos was to paint anarchists in a negative light. Seeing this, Conrad may have decided to do the same with his fictional anarchists.
In 1888, every London newspaper was publishing stories on the horrific Whitechapel murders perpetrated by the infamous Jack the Ripper. Alongside these articles were illustrations depicting the aftermath of the murders, as well as threats towards the Ripper himself and false articles written in the frenzy of the entire scandal. Newspapers were largely important to the Buntings in The Lodger. Lowndes and other Londoners probably had no idea that many of the newspapers were exaggerating or overtly lying.
Celebrated author, Virginia Woolf explored depression, schizophrenia, and post-traumatic stress disorder in her novel, Mrs. Dalloway; all of these psychological disorders were wildly misunderstood at the time the novel was written. People attempted to grasp what was happening to their friends and family members, but these attempts were unsuccessful. A large reason for Woolf writing of psychological issues was that she herself suffered from them and wanted to figure her own mind out.
Huxley created Brave New World, in which all the characters receive constant medication in the form of pills called “soma.” During the 1930s, there were seemingly insane misconceptions about the effects of different drugs. Because of these fallacies, people, including talented authors, did not have any understanding of drugs. Therefore, drugs may have seemed to not have any negatives.
Throughout the four novels, there was a theme of incompetence among government and police during the early twentieth century London. There was also the clear theme of people simply not understanding other people and other peoples’ struggles; a lot of these fictional characters are very selfish.