Charles Dickens (1812-70) was a political reporter and journalist whose popularity was established by the phenomenally successful Pickwick Papers (1836-7). His novels captured and held the public imagination over a period of more than thirty years. Philip Horne is a Reader in English at UCL. He is author of the acclaimed 'Henry James: A Life in Letters' and editor of James' The Tragic Muse for Penguin.

"The power of [Dickens] is so amazing, that the reader at once becomes his captive, and must follow him whithersoever he leads."--William Makepeace Thackeray

Charles Dickens (1812-70) was a political reporter and journalist whose popularity was established by the phenomenally successful Pickwick Papers (1836-7). His novels captured and held the public imagination over a period of more than thirty years. Philip Horne is a Reader in English at UCL. He is author of the acclaimed 'Henry James: A Life in Letters' and editor of James' The Tragic Muse for Penguin.

"The power of [Dickens] is so amazing, that the reader at once becomes his captive, and must follow him whithersoever he leads."--William Makepeace Thackeray

Charles Dickens (1812-70) was a political reporter and journalist whose popularity was established by the phenomenally successful Pickwick Papers (1836-7). His novels captured and held the public imagination over a period of more than thirty years. Philip Horne is a Reader in English at UCL. He is author of the acclaimed 'Henry James: A Life in Letters' and editor of James' The Tragic Muse for Penguin.

"The power of [Dickens] is so amazing, that the reader at once becomes his captive, and must follow him whithersoever he leads."--William Makepeace Thackeray