The Victorian Novel and the (Un-)Hospitability of Politics: Trollope and Dickens

Abstract

This paper addresses the representation of hospitality and how it enables the articulation of political and patriotic feelings and plots in the Victorian novel. My aim in addressing this relationship is to show how Victorian (narrative) hospitality was, in fact, a powerful tool in the creation of networks of political power, and in the consolidation, or disruption, of patriotic and nationalistic feelings that have such a profound echo in today's Britain. This suggests how the Victorian novel and its portrayal of hospitality, are relevant to today's Britain and its relationship with Europe.