Quelles marges dans la capitale victorienne ?

• Main Author: Françoise Barret-Ducrocq
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centre de Recherche et d'Etudes en Civilisation Britannique 2003-09-01
• Series: Revue Française de Civilisation Britannique
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/rfcb/1608

Nothing can seem more obvious in Victorian society, apparently so deeply divided by moral, social and economic norms, than the notion of a marginal condition. At the periphery, and even the antipodes of the centre where the dominant classes and values hold sway, we should encounter the excluded and debased elements of society. Yet, a more careful study of contemporary testimonies reveals a much more complex reality, in which central and marginal characters move side by side, and mingle along the intricate circuits of interdependence and mutual social ignorance. In a turbulent rather than mobile society, the centre or the centres are not necessarily to be found where they are expected.