A Companion To Charles Dickens

Download or read book A Companion to Charles Dickens written by David Paroissien and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2008-04-15 with total page 536 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Companion to Charles Dickens concentrates on the historical, ideological, and social forces that defined Dickens’s world. Puts Dickens’s work into its literary, historical, and social contexts Traces the development of Dickens’s career as a journalist and novelist Includes original essays by leading Dickensian scholars on each of Dickens’s fifteen novels Explores a broad range of topics, including criticisms of his novels, the use of history and law in his fiction, language, and the effect of political and social reform Examines Dickens's legacy and surveys the mass of secondary materials that has been generated in response and reverence to his writing

Download or read book The Cambridge Companion to Charles Dickens written by John O. Jordan and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2001-06-18 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Cambridge Companion to Charles Dickens contains fourteen specially-commissioned chapters by leading international scholars, who together provide diverse but complementary approaches to the full span of Dickens's work, with particular focus on his major fiction. The essays cover the whole range of Dickens's writing, from Sketches by Boz through The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Separate chapters address important thematic topics: childhood, the city, and domestic ideology. Others consider formal features of the novels, including their serial publication and Dickens's distinctive use of language. Three final chapters examine Dickens in relation to work in other media: illustration, theatre, and film. Each essay provides guidance to further reading. The volume as a whole offers a valuable introduction to Dickens for students and general readers, as well as fresh insights, informed by recent critical theory, that will be of interest to scholars and teachers of the novels.

Download or read book Student Companion to Charles Dickens written by Ruth Glancy and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 1999-11-30 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charles Dickens was the most popular writer of his age and is still considered one of the world's greatest novelists. This well-written study surveys his unusual and prolific life, relating his fiction writings to his concerns and active involvement with social conditions of early Victorian England. Glancy skillfully takes the reader back in time to appreciate the historical settings that inspired works like Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, and A Tale of Two Cities. An entire chapter is devoted to each of these works, as well as to David Copperfield, Hard Times, the Christmas books, and the early novels from The Pickwick Papers to Martin Chuzzlewit. In each chapter Glancy's analysis of plot, style, and character development bring these imaginative stories to life for the reader. This book examines Dickens's keen understanding of human nature and draws out the themes that make works such as A Christmas Carol as beloved today as when first written. This companion to Dickens will aid students in understanding the social context and literary genius of one of the greatest Victorian novelists. The thorough biographical chapter traces Dickens' life from his childhood through the development of his multi-faceted literary career. The literary heritage chapter examines the tremendous influence Dickens exerted on writing then and now. This volume surveys all of Dickens' work and provides in-depth readings of five of his novels and his Christmas works. The series format makes analysis of setting, plot, character development, and themes for each work accessible to students. The alternate critical perspectives enhance readers' understanding of Dickens' work. The selected bibliography and reviews cover both original and contemporary sources.

Download or read book Critical Companion to Charles Dickens written by Paul Benjamin Davis and published by Facts on File. This book was released on 2007 with total page 676 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensinve guide to the English novelist includes a chronology of his life, summaries of each of his works, and entries on major characters, important places, and relevant literary terms.

Download or read book The Cambridge Introduction to Charles Dickens written by Jon Mee and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-09-02 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charles Dickens became immensely popular early on in his career as a novelist, and his appeal continues to grow with new editions prompted by recent television and film adaptations, as well as large numbers of students studying the Victorian novel. This lively and accessible introduction to Dickens focuses on the extraordinary diversity of his writing. Jon Mee discusses Dickens's novels, journalism and public performances, the historical contexts and his influence on other writers. In the process, five major themes emerge: Dickens the entertainer; Dickens and language; Dickens and London; Dickens, gender, and domesticity; and the question of adaptation, including Dickens's adaptations of his own work. These interrelated concerns allow readers to start making their own new connections between his famous and less widely read works and to appreciate fully the sheer imaginative richness of his writing, which particularly evokes the dizzying expansion of nineteenth-century London.

Download or read book Readings on Charles Dickens written by Clarice Swisher and published by Greenhaven Press, Incorporated. This book was released on 1998 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents a series of articles examining the life and works of the English author Charles Dickens, discussing the themes and characters in his many novels, including "Oliver Twist," "David Copperfield," and "A Christmas Carol."

Download or read book The Companion to Our Mutual Friend (RLE Dickens) written by Michael Cotsell and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-05-13 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our Mutual Friend (1864-5) Dickens’ last completed novel, has been critically praised as a profound and troubled masterpiece, and yet is has received far less scholarly attention than his other major works. This volume is the first book-length study of the novel. It explores every aspect of Dickens’ sustained imaginative involvement with his age. In particular its original research into hitherto neglected sources reveals not only Dickens’ reactions to the important developments during the 1860s in education, finance and the administration of poverty, but also his interest in phenomena as diverse as waste collection and the Shakespeare tercentenary. The Companion to Our Mutual Friend demonstrates the varied resources of artistry that inform the novel, and it provides the reader with a fundamental source of information about one of Dickens’ most complex works.