Queen Victoria [Paperback]

Lytton Strachey (Author)

Book Description

Series: Harvest Book | Publication Date: December 9, 2002

This is the definitive biography of Britain’s greatest monarch, who “was hailed at once as the mother of her people and as the embodied symbol of their imperial greatness.” “One of the surpassingly beautiful prose achievements of our time” (Chicago Daily News). Index; illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Hilarious social commentary...If all biographies were like Strachey's, they would probably kill off the novel altogether." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

Written in 1921, Lytton Strachey’s Queen Victoria revolutionized the art of biography by using elements of romantic fiction and melodrama to create a warm, humorous, and very human portrait of an iconic figure. We see Victoria as a strong–willed child with a famous temper, as the eighteen–year–old girl–Queen, as a monarch, wife, mother, and widow. Equally fascinating are the depictions of her relationships: with her governess “precious Lehzen,” with Peel, Gladstone, and Disraeli, with her beloved Albert, and, in later life, her legendary devotion to her Highland servant John Brown, all of which illuminate an altogether different side to Victoria’s staid, pious image. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (December 9, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156027569
• ISBN-13: 978-0156027564
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,654,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars still one of the best things around, December 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Queen Victoria (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) (Paperback)

strachey became famous for his 'eminent victorians' which has the reputation for being a hatchet job-but he was looking at the previous generation from the disillusioned, post-WWI perspective, and he treats florence nightingale et al more like prodigies than monsters. when he undertook to write about the eponymous queen herself, people expected it would be another exercise in target practice-even his mother tried to discourage him, saying that 'if she was stupid, it was not her fault.' But in the event what he produced is one of the most sympathetic, if slightly condescending, biographies ever written-and absolutely one of the most accomplished. it is a chronicle of victoria's 60+-year-long political career and emotional life, a series of portraits of all the personalities in her life-including albert, his curious replacement john brown, disraeli-him, it is true, strachey clearly did not like-a completely non-pedantic reflection on the growth and eventual shrinkage of the british empire during her reign-and the whole thing is done so subtly, so gracefully-and, at the same time, so forcefully-that you may find yourself talking about nothing else but this book and queen victoria for days afterward. one of the most successful marriages of rigorous scholarship and beautiful style in english literature.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting portrait of a queen, August 3, 2000

By 

omarbukka (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Queen Victoria (HBJ Modern Classic) (Hardcover)

A readable and fairly brief account of Victoria. Frequent passages from Victoria's girlhood diary and letters make Victoria's early life particularly vivid reading. Also fascinating is Victoria's relationship with her government, and her tendency to cling to the current prime minister and despise the Opposition, whoever they might be.

The enigmatic Prince Albert, and his evolving relationship with Victoria, is presented well. Strachey makes some startling suggestions about what Britain might have turned into, had Albert lived longer (answer: Prussia).

This book is elegantly written, and free of the psychobabble one might expect from a more modern book.

The book is not boring. Although Victoria is always proper, there is plenty of adultery and dysfunctional family behavior among her many adult children.

26 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyed book, but a little dry - informative, September 30, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Queen Victoria (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) (Paperback)

I enjoyed this detailed book about Queen Victoria's life. It had a lot of detail, but the writing style was a bit dry and old-fashioned (the book was written a while ago). It also didn't have as much detail of her life after Prince Albert died, which was unfortunate. It was sympathetic to her and generally very informative. I would recommend this book highly to people seeking to learn more about Queen Victoria, but not to someone seeking "light reading" as it is a bit hard to read due to the older writing style.