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Jennifer Howard

Writer, editor, journalist.

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Do We Have Victorians to Thank for Consumerism?

November 27, 2020

Kinda yes, as I argue in this CLUTTER excerpt that ran in LitHub:

“Victorian” has persisted as a convenient if imprecise shorthand for a style that’s heavy in every sense. “Victorian decor” invokes curtains-drawn houses where light goes to die and where rooms are filled with furniture dark, heavy, and overstuffed. Victorian rooms, as we imagine them, were temples (or mausoleums) of things, with every surface— mantels, tabletops, shelves, sideboards—obscured by ceramic figurines and keepsakes, and every inch of wall covered with paintings and portraits.

Read the full essay.

Tagged With: book excerpt, clutter, LitHub

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About Jen

Jen Howard sitting in front of a brick wall. She is smiling.

Writer, journalist, editor, gadabout. Book- and nature lover. Washingtonian. LLC. Read more »

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