Is it correct to refer the Victorian Era outside of the UK?

Question

Here in the UK, we refer to the "Victorians", or the era in which the "Victorians" reigned. I recently read an article on the BBC about a story set in the United States during the Victorian Era. Whilst this made sense from the perspective of the BBC (being a British company), it did make me wonder if the era made any sense outside the borders of the UK... Do other countries even recognise it as an era? Are there equivalents? When is it okay and not okay to refer to something in that era that is not contextually relevant?

Have tagged as [Victorian]... ;)

Answer 1

Is it correct? I am pleased to say that there is no authority that can deem a term correct or incorrect. There are no language police. (See Aside #1)

If you use the term Victorian Era, you will (probably) be understood. Although Victoria was only Queen of the Commonwealth, the sun never set on her territory, and even where she did not rule, she influenced (soft power). As a consequence, the term is useful - there is an entry in both Wikipedia and Merriam Webster.

The term is commonly used in several contexts (gamewriting, costuming, fiction).

For US only, we can use the terms "ante-bellum" and "post-bellum" to refer to portions of the Victorian era.

Aside #1 I will grant that there are many language police, but they are not relevant to any meaningful endeavor. Arguably mocking the foolish is amusing, but probably not meaningful

Aside #2 - The prudishness of Victorians is vastly overstated. Arguably, one of the reasons that the English largely ignored the revolutions of 1850 is that the English "liberals" were more powerful than liberals in other countries because they had a long history of funding themselves through publication of pornography. Greater funding meant that they had more influence, and consequently they didn't need to rebel; they just needed to use the funds provided by pornography to advance a liberal agenda.

Answer 2

“Victorian” makes sense within the boundaries of the United Kingdom (as you say), but also within the boundaries of the British Empire. Remember that Victoria was “Empress of India”. Outside of the British Empire, for example in the USA, it does not really make sense, though lots of Americans do talk about the “Victorian era”, mainly in the context of discussions of sexual prudishness.

Answer 3

Curiously, I was in a tour of a Victorian mansion, probably the Emyln Physic House in Cape May, New Jersey (or possibly Wheatland in Lancaster, PA), and the guide used the term "Victorian" a bit differently. As I remember the surviving decoration was dated to two periods about a decade apart and one period was described as "Victorian" and the other had a different name.

So apparently in the tour guide believed that in the history of American interior decoration the Victorian period of 1837-1901 is divided into sub periods, one of which is called "Victorian" and the others with different names.

Answer 4

As both an American and an Architect, I can agree that "Victorian" is used to describe objects, designs, ideas, and themes (especially in literature) which became prevalent during the "Victorian Era," or queen Victoria's reign.

We Americans also have another term, mostly in history books, which overlaps the earlier part of her reign called "the Gilded Age" but no one really uses that outside history class.

Answer 5

It's absolutely appropriate to use "Victorian" in the US to refer to anything within that date range. I grew up in an 1870s house that we unequivocally called a Victorian, even though the architect was American. There are sub-categories of styles you might hear referred to as well, such as Gothic Revival architecture, or Eastlake furniture, but you'd be safe calling those "Victorian era" as an umbrella term.

I can't speak for countries outside the US, but I have a feeling it may be the same in most of the English-speaking world. For countries like Japan, however, you're better off talking about the Meji and late Edo periods.