To understand hatred and civility in today s world argues Christopher Lane we should start with Victorian fiction Although the word Victorian generally brings to mind images of prudish sexuality and well heeled snobbery it has above all become synonymous with self sacrifice earnest devotion and moral rectitude Yet this idealized version of Victorian England is surprisingly scarce in the period s literature and its journalism sermons poems and plays where villains hypocrites murderers and cheats of all types abound