Charles Dickens - (McFarland Companions to 19th Century Literature) by Julia McCord Chavez (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Charles Dickens captured the ethos of Victorian England in his writing and was undeniably a celebrated author--indeed, a celebrity author--in his own time. With writing that ranged from hilarious caricature to gritty social realism, he effectively blended entertainment with wide-ranging critique of class structures, education, industrialization and urbanization, the legal system, attitudes toward the poor and orphans, gender relations, and global networks. This keen exploration of social issues speaks to 21st-century readers, and Dickensian characters, plots, and themes continue to interest students, teachers, and fans alike.

This companion to Dickens's major works examines the author's life and times to allow deeper engagement with his Victorian-era writings. Entries covering Dickens's major works include commentary to foster appreciation for their artistic merit, for their place in the author's life, for their contribution to publishing history, and for their place in Victorian history.

Review Quotes

"An illimitable companion to the inimitable novelist! Chavez's volume is lucid and engaging, somehow managing to be concise and voluminous at once. To spend time in these pages, with their extensive breadth of reference illuminating Dickens's numerous works and their transformative impact, and the myriad people, concepts, institutions and social movements that they contain, is to witness Dickens's centrality not only to the Victorian world, but our own. To study Dickens is to study modernity itself: its dirty underbelly, its inhuman institutions, its economic inequalities and environmental impacts--and the potential for acts of human kindness and expanding relations to ameliorate those systems' crushing effects. If Dickens's oeuvre has a single maxim, it is surely Bleak House's query: 'what connexion can there be?' This volume reveals that the answer is a great, great many. Chavez's book will prove a useful companion to Dickens's many twenty-first century readers, whether scholars long familiar with his work or students encountering his prose for the first time."--Jesse Oak Taylor, University of Washington

"Chavez's literary companion provides readers with excellent research that is both thorough and up to date. The companion's entries are so robust that even Dickens specialists will learn something new. At the same time, the engaging and clear writing will draw in first-year students who are encountering Dickens for the first time. All of this, plus the fact that Dickens was such a central figure in the Victorian period, means that this companion will serve as a very insightful guide not only to Dickens's life and work, but also to larger themes, cultural issues, and literary techniques in the nineteenth century more broadly. Charles Dickens: A Companion is a must-have for all university libraries!--Dr. Katherine Gilbert, associate professor of English, Drury University

About the Author

Julia McCord Chavez, Ph.D., J.D., is a professor of English at Saint Martin's University in Lacey, Washington. Her research interests include nineteenth-century British literature, Victorian print culture, serialization, and gender studies.