A leap of faith: Abbott, Bellamy, Morris, Wells and the fin-de-siècle route to utopia

In the great surge of utopian writing that was produced during the fin de siècle, Edward Bellamy, William Morris and H. G. Wells among others imagined utopias that were global in scale and located in the future. They made a radical shift in utopian thinking by drawing a historical trajectory between their own time and that of utopia. A contemporaneous text that might seem to have little in common with these “historical utopias” is E. A. Abbott’s Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (1884). This article shows how closely its ideas can bring into focus those of the specifically utopian texts being written alongside it. Flatland breaks the conventions of utopian narrative by removing the reader from the narrative plane and situating us instead in the “impossible” third dimension. The “leap of faith” necessary for scientific or religious revelation is simultaneously invoked as the route to utopia

The Two Felixes: Narrational Irony and the Questions of Radicalism in Felix Holt and \u27Address to Working Men, by Felix Holt\u27

In this characterization of Dorothea by the narrator of Middlemarch (1871-2), the \u27Great\u27 Reform Act of 1832 is posited as a dividing line between two phases of history, so distinct as to have separate spheres of interest and judgements of normality. George Eliot flatters her mid-Victorian reader by insinuating that only the \u27modem\u27 mind of their shared present could understand the zeal of a humanistic \u27exalted enthusiasm\u27 that took its source of energy from within. In this passage, therefore, \u27reform\u27 seems to be the key to historical, social and personal change. The issue of reform - of society, of institution and of self - looms equally large in Felix Holt (1866), where it is channelled through a double consciousness. Although Felix Holt describes and discusses the issues attendant on the Reform Act of 1832, Eliot is conscious of evoking in its readers echoes of its later counterpart, what would become the 1867 Reform Act, which was being debated in Parliament while Felix Holt was written and published. The worlds of the novel and of the initial readership are, therefore, bracketed and deeply embedded in a culture of reform. I argue that Eliot\u27s stance on reform in Felix Holt, so often equated with Matthew Arnold\u27s, has been oversimplified due to a questionable elision of the author with her eponymous hero, and of two distinct embodiments of \u27Felix Holt\u27 in two different publications. In part because of the profusion of apparently authoritative pearls of wisdom scattered through her texts, it is all too easy to elide \u27George Eliot\u27, himself an authorial construct, with the sentiments expressed in his/her novels. I argue that Eliot\u27s extensive use of free indirect discourse, irony, and the double time-frame, makes this a futile and limiting task. In these multiple contexts, Felix Holt and its paratext \u27Address to Working Men, by Felix Holt\u27 (1867), which have often been dismissed as narrowly conservative, emerge as notably dynamic and polyphonic texts

Review of Victorian Narratives of the Recent Past: Memory, History, Fiction

The nineteenth century saw a number of ways in which amateurs and professional historians and novelists approached the presentation of history, especially histories of the recent past. Eminent, professional historians at universities, and those aspiring to join them, increasingly avoided commenting on periods within living memory on the grounds that one could quickly lose credibility debating subjects not yet fully digested. Kingstone clearly illustrates the point in chapter 9, Conclusions: writing \u27both before and after the United Kingdom\u27s 2016 referendum decision to leave the European Union, I am aware that any arc I try to draw, any judgment I try to make about the impact of national peace or upheaval, is likely to have a very short shelf life\u27 (213). Another reason for Victorian professional historians to shy away from contemporary histories and instead to focus on periods in the distant past was that existing contemporary histories often blurred their subjects with journalism and literature. Some contemporary history was actually written by journalists, and some prominent writers of fiction - Charles Dickens, W. M. Thackeray, George Eliot, Oscar Wilde - were also prolific in journalistic pursuits, which often dealt with recent events. When in the late nineteenth century journalism came under close scrutiny and gained a reputation for intrusiveness and prurience, there appeared \u27a deep rift between journalism and history […] exacerbat[ing] the dangerous liminality of contemporary history, leaving it in no man\u27s land\u27 (38-9)

Feminism, nationalism, separatism?:The case of Alice Stopford Green

Alice Stopford Green, widow of proto-social and Teutonic nationalist historian J.R. Green, who went on to become an Irish nationalist historian and campaigner, complicates our view of fin-de-siècle women writers. Surprisingly for an amateur historian in an age of professionalization, she took a consciously separatist position, privileging the particular over the general, and defining her writing as both female and Irish. This article focuses on Stopford Green's 1915 epilogue to her husband's Short History of the English People (1874), and her startlingly anguished periodical article of 1897 from Nineteenth Century, to demonstrate a separatism both bold and self-aware.‘Woman's Place in the World of Letters’ (1897) prefigures Cixous in its call for an écriture feminine. It views women as utterly alien to the established order of this world. Stopford Green at once acquiesces with female essentialisation – ‘woman’ comes in the singular – and undermines it by insisting that woman's true nature is almost never seen. In the ‘Epilogue’ (1915), which updates her husband's narrative to her war-torn present, Stopford Green voices jingoistic rhetoric, but employs unobtrusive asides to distance herself from these calls to imperialism. Through such surreptitious means, she uses her late-husband's popular textbook as the conduit of subversive ideas, both voicing and subverting his English nationalism

Finding the 'right' GP : a qualitative study of the experiences of people with long-COVID

Background: An unknown proportion of people who had an apparently mild COVID-19 infection continue to suffer with persistent symptoms, including chest pain, shortness of breath, muscle and joint pains, headaches, cognitive impairment (‘brain fog’), and fatigue. Post-acute COVID-19 (‘long-COVID’) seems to be a multisystem disease, sometimes occurring after a mild acute illness; people struggling with these persistent symptoms refer to themselves as ‘long haulers’. Aim: To explore experiences of people with persisting symptoms following COVID-19 infection, and their views on primary care support received. Design & setting: Qualitative methodology, with semi-structured interviews to explore perspectives of people with persisting symptoms following suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection. Participants were recruited via social media between July–August 2020. Method: Interviews were conducted by telephone or video call, digitally recorded, and transcribed with consent. Thematic analysis was conducted applying constant comparison techniques. People with experience of persisting symptoms contributed to study design and data analysis. Results: This article reports analysis of 24 interviews. The main themes include: the ‘hard and heavy work’ of enduring and managing symptoms and accessing care; living with uncertainty, helplessness and fear, particularly over whether recovery is possible; the importance of finding the 'right' GP (understanding, empathy, and support needed); and recovery and rehabilitation: what would help? Conclusion: This study will raise awareness among primary care professionals, and commissioners, of long-COVID and the range of symptoms people are experiencing. Patients require their GP to believe their symptoms and to demonstrate empathy and understanding. Ongoing support by primary care professionals during recovery and rehabilitation is crucial

'Reluctant pioneer':A qualitative study of doctors' experiences as patients with long COVID

Background: The coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) pandemic has had far‐reaching effects upon lives, healthcare systems and society. Some who had an apparently 'mild' COVID‐19 infection continue to suffer from persistent symptoms, including chest pain, breathlessness, fatigue, cognitive impairment, paraesthesia, muscle and joint pains. This has been labelled 'long COVID'. This paper reports the experiences of doctors with long COVID. Methods: A qualitative study; interviews with doctors experiencing persistent symptoms were conducted by telephone or video call. Interviews were transcribed and analysis conducted using an inductive and thematic approach. Results: Thirteen doctors participated. The following themes are reported: making sense of symptoms, feeling let down, using medical knowledge and connections, wanting to help and be helped, combining patient and professional identity. Experiencing long COVID can be transformative: many expressed hope that good would come of their experiences. Distress related to feelings of being ‘let down’ and the hard work of trying to access care. Participants highlighted that they felt better able to care for, and empathize with, patients with chronic conditions, particularly where symptoms are unexplained. Conclusions: The study adds to the literature on the experiences of doctors as patients, in particular where evidence is emerging and the patient has to take the lead in finding solutions to their problems and accessing their own care. Patient and Public contribution: The study was developed with experts by experience (including co‐authors HA and TAB) who contributed to the protocol and ethics application, and commented on analysis and implications. All participants were given the opportunity to comment on findings

An evaluation of a public partnership project between academic institutions and young people with Black African, Asian and Caribbean heritage

BackgroundThis project (named Reinvent) aimed to promote Public Involvement (PI) in health research. Academics worked with a community group, the Eloquent Praise & Empowerment Dance Company, to develop a community partnership with young people from Black African, Asian and Caribbean heritage communities. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the Reinvent project for key learnings on how to engage and build partnerships with young people from Black African, Asian and Caribbean heritage communities.MethodsReinvent developed a steering group which consisted of five young people, one academic, a Race Equality Ambassador and the Director of Eloquent. The steering group co-produced an agenda for two workshops and the evaluation tools used. The content of the workshops included drama exercises, discussions on physical and mental health, nutrition and school-life, short introductions to the concepts of research and PI, and group work to critique and improve a video currently used to promote PI in health research to young people. The evaluation tools included using the ‘Cube’ evaluation framework, video-blogging and collecting anonymous feedback.FindingsThe responses to the ‘Cube’ evaluation framework were positive across all four domains (agenda, voice, contribute change) in both workshops. A few of the young people described having a better understanding of the meaning and practice of PI in a video-blog. The anonymous feedback suggested that the workshops had increased young people’s confidence in sharing their thoughts and opinions about health and PI.ConclusionReinvent has shown that academic institutions and young people from an under-served community can partner to co-design workshops and apply evaluation tools. Working with young people in an environment in which they were comfortable, and by researchers joining in with the activities that the young people enjoyed (such as dance), enabled more informal and open conversations to develop. More work is needed to build upon this project so that young people can feel confident and supported to get involved in PI activities relating to research

Human-animal elision: a Darwinian universe in George Eliot’s novels

No abstract available