Victorian Literature and the Reception of Greece and Rome

Recent scholarship on Victorian writers’ literary responses to the ancient world has moved away from models of classical influence or the classical tradition, drawing rather on theories of reception and intertextuality. The 19th century is prominent in accounts of the reception of Greek and Latin texts, and scholars have begun to explore the dissemination of classical texts to a wide audience through varied forms of translation and adaptation. Studies of literary and popular culture show that creative responses to intensely debated interpretations of classical myth and history helped to shape Victorian thinking about contemporary questions.