The Birth of Liberal Guilt in the English Novel: Charles Dickens to H. G. WellsDaniel Born explores the concept of liberal guilt as it first developed in British political and literary culture between the late Romantic period and World War I. Disturbed by the twin spectacle of urban poverty at home and imperialism abroad, major novelists including Charles Dickens, George Eliot, George Gissing, Joseph Conrad, E. M. Forster, and H. G. Wells offered a host of characters who reflect distinct moral responses and sensibilities.