MY NOVEL

OR, VARIETIES IN ENGLISH LIFE

My Novel, or Varieties in English Life was serialised in Blackwood’s Magazine between September 1850 and January 1853 on a monthly basis. The narrator of the tale is Pisistratus Caxton, a prominent character and the narrator of Bulwer-Lytton’s earlier novel The Caxtons: A Family Picture. The work continues the author’s writing of realist fiction as he chronicles the specifics and peculiarities of daily life and interaction. My Novel opens with Pisistratus presenting himself as a writer and explaining how his novel came to be written. He begins to depict a scene that involves an array of family members conversing with each other about the origins of the ‘Etrurians’ and Scandinavians. Austin is carefully trying to explain his theory about the birth of the human race to his wife, while Pisistratus is moody and uninterested in hearing anything about it. He is complaining about the possibility of the repeal of the Corn Laws and how the nation is going to start losing money if the government removed the tax on foreign imports.

Mr Squills, who is an enthusiastic advocate of free trade, suggests Pisistratus writes a book to express his opinions. When the young man protests that he would rather write a law in Parliament about the Corn Laws, it is Austin that tells his son to write a book about anything, just write something, and apply his thought and energy as a method of distraction from his doom and gloom. My Novel, or Varieties in English Life helps to demonstrate Bulwer-Lytton’s dexterity and range as a novelist as he carefully crafts a work of character and close social relations.