What Was The Victorian Era & The Gilded Age? The Era Of Romance And Abundance The Victorian Era is said to have occurred during the reign of Queen Victoria Between 1831 to 1901. It was also know as the Gilded Age as it was a time of great prosperity. It crossed country lines primarily between the United Kingdom and the United States.   The Gilded Age was a period of materialism and blatant political corruption in the United States during the 1870s. During this period, many important novels on social and political criticism were published and are now considered to be some of the best works of this country.   While the "Victorian Era" takes it's name from the Queen. We can thank one of the greatest writers of the time, who penned, `The Gilded Age' (1873), written by Mark Twain in collaboration with Charles Dudley Warner.   Warner (1829-1900), was considered to be a U.S. essayist, humorist, and editor extrodinare during the Gilded Age. He was born in Plainfield, Mass.and grew up in a some what conservative family. He was on the editorial staff of Harper's Magazine and wrote many other works such as; `My Summer in a Garden'; `Backlog Studies'; biography of Washington Irving.   Mark Twain (1835-1910) was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens on Nov. 30, 1835, in the small town of Florida, Mo. His father died when he was 12, and the boy was apprenticed to a printer. An apprentice works for someone in order to learn a trade. This was the first step toward his career as a writer. Clemens went west to Nevada and soon became a reporter on the Virginia City newspaper. Here he began using the pen name Mark Twain. It is an old river term meaning two fathoms, or 12 feet (4 meters), of water depth. William Dean Howells, editor of the Atlantic Monthly and a highly respected novelist, became his close friend and literary adviser.   It is through Howells that Clemens becomes acquainted with Charles Warner. With their similar humor and satire, they agreed to collaberate on the now famous novel that provided the label for this period in history.