Lytton Strachey accomplished a revolution in biographical writing in his succinct and satirical biographies of four

Eminent Victorians

(1918) which were written in pointed reaction to the Victorian, two-volumed hagiographical life-and-letters tradition. Coming at the time of momentous changes in literature at large (T.S. Eliot’s

Prufrock and Other Observations

, for example, had appeared in the previous year), Strachey’s volume was perfectly timed. His biography of Queen Victoria followed in 1921. With this, his literary reputation was consolidated and his fame secured. The “Preface” to

Eminent Victorians

enunciates his biographical-historical principles of selectivity and quasi-scientific detachment:

[The historian] will row out over that great ocean of material, and lower down

1417 words

Citation: Spurr, Barry. "Lytton Strachey". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 December 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4256, accessed 19 March 2024.]

4256 Lytton Strachey 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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