Companion to Charles Dickens

DAVID PAROISSIEN was Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Buckingham. A distinguished Dickens scholar, he was Editor of Dickens Quarterly and Co-Editor the Dickens Companions series.LEON LITVACK is Professor of Victorian Studies at Queen's University Belfast and a leading authority on Dickens's manuscripts, handwriting, and photographic portraits. He is Principal Editor of The Charles Dickens Letters Project and Joint General Editor of The Oxford Edition of Charles Dickens.

• List of Illustrations ixNotes on Contributors xiPreface xviiAcknowledgments xixAbbreviations xxiPart I Perspectives on the Life 11 A Sketch of Dickens's Life 3Michael Allen2 "Faithfully Yours, Charles Dickens": The Epistolary Art of the Inimitable 17David Paroissien3 Three Major Dickens Biographies 29Catherine Peters4 Later Engagements with Dickens's Life 43Laura ColombinoPart II Literary/Cultural Contexts 555 Dickens's Eighteenth-Century Legacy 57Monika Fludernik6 Dickens and the City 71Ushashi Dasgupta7 Illustrations 85Malcolm Andrews8 Dickens and Serialization 107Pete Orford9 The Language of Dickens 119Patricia Ingham10 Dickens and Christianity 133Valentine Cunningham11 Dickens and the Uses of History 151John Gardiner12 From Penny-a-Liner to Media Mogul: Dickens's Evolution as a Journalist 165John M. L. DrewPart III Historical Contexts 17913 Dickens and Gender 181Sarah Gates14 Dickens and Technology 199Trey Philpotts15 Dickens and America (1842) 217Nancy Aycock Metz16 Dickens as a Reformer 229Hugh Cunningham17 Dickens and Government Ineptitude Abroad, 1854–1865 243Leslie Mitchell18 Dickens and Europe 255Luisa Villa19 Dickens and the Law 269Jan-­Melissa SchrammPart IV The Fiction 28320 Sketches by Boz 285Paul Schlicke21 The Pickwick Papers 293Adam Abraham22 Oliver Twist 305Brian Cheadle23 Nicholas Nickleby 315Michelle Allen-Emerson24 The Old Curiosity Shop 325Hazel Mackenzie25 Barnaby Rudge 335Jon Mee26 Martin Chuzzlewit 343Goldie Morgentaler27 The Christmas Books 353Leon Litvack28 Dombey and Son 367Nathalie Vanfasse29 David Copperfield 379Bradley Deane30 Bleak House 391Robert Tracy31 Hard Times 403Anne Humpherys32 Little Dorrit 413Philip Davis33 A Tale of Two Cities 423Sara Thornton34 Great Expectations 435Andrew Sanders35 Our Mutual Friend 445Leon Litvack36 The Mystery of Edwin Drood 455Yael Halevi-­WisePart V Reputation & Influence 46737 Dickens and the Literary Culture of the Period 469Michael Hollington38 Dickens Before Modernism 485Yael Levin39 Global Dickens 497John O. Jordan40 Dickens Now: Adaptations and Representations, 2012–2020 511Emily MiddletonIndex 523