ATTN: HUMOUR ALERT
Jules Verne was an author of immense imagination, who had a profound effect on speculative fiction, whereas Victoria was a stodgy & pampered royal who led a sheltered and traditional existence.
Boring, frumpy, grumpy royal! (Photo from The Guardian, UK)
Well, I must say this ongoing mania of appropriating steampunk as a uniquely British genre is going against my French-born grain.
Although the term "steampunk" did not exist during the Vernian Era, he is more than peripherally responsible for its inception, whereas a British monarch who happened to have longevity, has her name attached to the genre with this erroneous, brief descriptor that steampunk is "Victorian Science Fiction".
Brilliant Author & Dreamer (Photo Steampunk Tribune)
No, it is NOT "Victorian Science Fiction". It is "Vernian Science Fiction"! Victoria may have been alive for a rather long stretch, but what did she actually, and directly, contribute to her era?
Fashions? Certainly NOT! She was in mourning for decades after her husband died, and was, in fact, a detriment to the development of innovation in fashion as long as she continued to take up space.
Literature? Her "Highland Diaries" had nothing whatsoever to do with speculation, science or innovation of any sort, so her scribblings did not contribute one iota to the makings of steampunk.
If anything, she was a huge impediment, and her only contribution was that she was in the way for ages. While there is no denying her influence as a major blockage, but I must take exception to attaching her name to to her era, as if she were some sort of exemplary torchbearer.
She had longevity, but then again so did Mao, who also ruled over a hell of a lot people in his day, but HE doesn't have a genre of speculative fiction name after him, now does he?
Oh and China originated tea drinking, not Britain. Hrmph!
Now kindly put that pretentious pinkie finger down, already! (Photo from worldofmusick.com)
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