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London, Radical Culture, and the Making of the Dickensian Aesthetic
London, Radical Culture, and the Making of the Dickensian Aesthetic London, Radical Culture, and the Making of the Dickensian Aesthetic Sambudha Sen The Ohio State University Press / Columbus Copyright © 2012 by The Ohio State University. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sen, Sambudha. London, radical culture, and the making of the Dickensian aesthetic / Sambudha Sen. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8142-1192-2 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-8142-9293-8 (cd) 1. English fiction—19th century—History and criticism. 2. Dickens, Charles, 1812– 1870—Criticism and interpretation. 3. Thackeray, William Makepeace, 1811–1863— Criticism and interpretation. 4. Literature and society—Great Britain—History—19th century. 5. Radicalism—Great Britain—History—19th century. I. Title. PR861.S46 2012 823'.809—dc23 2012007257 Cover design by Greg Betza Text design by Juliet Williams Type set in Adobe Sabon Printed by Thomson-Shore, Inc. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. ANSI Z39.48–1992. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 CONTENTS List of Illustrations vii Acknowledgments ix INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1 Dickens, Thackeray, and “The Language of Radicalism” 13 CHAPTER 2 The Aesthetics and Politics of Caricature: Bleak House, Little Dorrit, and Vanity Fair in Relation to “Radical Expression” 36 CHAPTER 3 Re-Visioning the City: The Making of an Urban Aesthetic from Hogarth to the Stereoscope 65 CHAPTER 4 Novelizing the City: Bleak House, Vanity Fair, and the Hybridizing Challenge 94 CHAPTER 5 Radical Culture, the City, and the Problem of Selfhood: Great Expectations and Pendennis 116 CHAPTER 6 Working with Fragments: Our Mutual Friend as a Reflection on the Popular Aesthetic 141 Notes 163 Bibliography 177 Index 184 IllUSTRATIONS 1. -
Dombey and Son: an Inverted Maid's Tragedy
Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 6 No. 3; June 2015 Flourishing Creativity & Literacy Australian International Academic Centre, Australia Dombey and Son: An Inverted Maid's Tragedy Taher Badinjki Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Al-Zaytoonah University P O box 1089 Marj Al-Hamam, Amman 11732, Jordan E-mail: [email protected] Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.6n.3p.210 Received: 14/02/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.6n.3p.210 Accepted: 29/04/2015 Abstract Ross Dabney, J. Butt & K. Tillotson, and others think that Dickens revised the role of Edith in the original plan of Dombey and Son upon the advice of a friend. I tend to believe that Dickens's swerve from his course was prompted by two motives, his relish for grand scenes, and his endeavour to engage the reader's sympathies for a character who was a victim of a social practice which he was trying to condemn. Dickens's humanitarian attitude sought to redeem the sinner and condemn the sin. In engaging the reader's sympathies, Dickens had entrapped his own. Both Edith and Alice are shown as victims of rapacious mothers who sell anything, or anybody for money. While Good Mrs Brown sells Alice's virtue and innocence for cash, Mrs Skewton trades on Edith's beauty in the marriage market to secure fortune and a good establishment. Edith and Alice's maturity and moral growth and their scorn and anger at their mothers' false teaching come in line with public prudery. -
Industrial Relations: Carlyle's Influence on Hard Times
Industrial Relations: Carlyle's influence on Hard Times Graham Law I. Introduction The aim of the present paper is the strictly limited one of presenting detailed internal evidence of the nature and extent of the influence of the writings of Thomas Carlyle on Charles Dickens's anti-utilitarian novel of 1854 Hard Times. The principal works of Carlyle in question here are: Sartor Resartus (1833-4, cited as SR), Chartism (1839, cited as CH), Past and Present (1843, cited as P&P), and Latter-Day Pamphlets (1850, cited as LDP), three works which return explicitly to the 'Condition-of-England question' first raised in the 1929 essay 'Signs of the Times' (cited as SofT), plus the History of the French Revolution (1837, cited as FR), a book less explicitly connected to the theme of industrialism but with which Dickens appears to have been especially familiar.1 Specific citations in the extensive exemplification which follows refer to the Centenary Edition of Carlyle's works, published in thirty volumes by Chapman & Hall in 1898, using the abbreviation CE. Citations from Hard Times refer to the 'Charles Dickens' edition published by Chapman and Hall in 1868, using the abbreviation HT. Citations from the weekly family journal Dickens conducted during the 1850s, Household Words, are indicated by the abbreviation HW. The wider implications of this material, in particular with regard to Dickens's contribution to the early Victorian genre of the industrial novel and the debate on industrialisation which Carlyle called 'the Condition-of-England question,'2 are here only briefly outlined but are discussed in greater detail elsewhere.3 The relative literary status of Carlyle's social criticism and Dickens's novel is now almost precisely the reverse of that pertaining when they were first received by the Victorian reading public. -
Seman 1 Dickens Against the Grain Gendered Spheres and Their Transgressors in Bleak House, Hard Times, and Great Expectations A
Seman 1 Dickens against the Grain Gendered Spheres and Their Transgressors in Bleak House, Hard Times, and Great Expectations A Thesis Presented to the Honors Tutorial College Ohio University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation from the Honors Tutorial College with the Degree of Bachelor of Arts in English by Taylor J. Seman June 2011 Seman 2 This thesis has been approved by The Honors Tutorial College and the Department of English __________________________ Dr. Carey Snyder Associate Professor, English Thesis Advisor and Director of Studies ___________________________ Dr. Jeremy Webster Dean, Honors Tutorial College Seman 3 Table of Contents Introduction…………………………………………………………………………….4 Chapter One: Transgressive Characters………………………………………………..9 Chapter Two: Idealized Characters…………………………………………………...28 Chapter Three: Female Power in Unusual Places…………………………………….45 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………....56 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………..58 Seman 4 Introduction Charles Dickens certainly cannot be considered a participant in a precursory movement towards feminism; in fact, many of Dickens‘s novels uphold traditional ideas about femininity and punish the usurpation of male privilege. In Bleak House, Hard Times, and Great Expectations—the three novels that form the basis of this study—Dickens punishes characters who transgress gender norms (such as Mrs. Jellyby, Louisa, and Mrs. Joe) both through explicit condemnation by the narrator and the adversity that befalls them in the plot. These characters have been created to appear ridiculous, no matter their accomplishments in the community or in the world at large. Yet in these same novels, Dickens presents a socially relevant depiction of female power and agency that subverts the sexism he exhibits in the creation and punishment of other characters. -
1854 HARD TIMES Charles Dickens 2
1 1854 HARD TIMES Charles Dickens 2 Dickens, Charles (1812-1870) - The most popular and perhaps greatest English novelist and short-story writer, he drew on his experiences as a poor child to produce extremely realistic stories. Hard Times (1854) - Thomas Gradgrind is an educator who believes only in the demonstrable fact. He raises his children, Louisa and Thomas, in a grim materialistic atmosphere that adversely affects their entire lives. “Hard Times” is an indictment of the values of 19th century industrial England. 3 Table Of Contents BOOK THE FIRST CHAPTER 1 . .. 6 The One Thing Needful CHAPTER 2 . 7 Murdering the Innocents CHAPTER 3 . 12 A Loophole CHAPTER 4 . 16 Mr Bounderby CHAPTER 5 . 22 The Key-note CHAPTER 6 . 27 Sleary’s Horsemanship CHAPTER 7 . 38 Mrs Sparsit CHAPTER 8 . 43 Never Wonder CHAPTER 9 . 48 Sissy’s Progress CHAPTER 10 . 54 Stephen Blackpool CHAPTER 11 . 59 No Way Out CHAPTER 12 . 65 The Old Woman CHAPTER 13 . .69 Rachael CHAPTER 14 . 75 The Great Manufacturer CHAPTER 15 . 79 Father and Daughter CHAPTER 16 . 85 Husband and Wife BOOK THE SECOND CHAPTER 1 . 91 Effects in the Bank CHAPTER 2 . 102 Mr James Harthouse CHAPTER 3 . 109 The Whelp CHAPTER 4 . 113 Men and Brothers 4 CHAPTER 5 . 120 Men and Masters CHAPTER 6 . 126 Fading Away CHAPTER 7 . 136 Gunpowder CHAPTER 8 . 146 Explosion CHAPTER 9 . 156 Hearing the Last of it CHAPTER 10 . 163 Mrs Sparsit’s Staircase CHAPTER 11 . 167 Lower and Lower CHAPTER 12 . 174 Down BOOK THE THIRD CHAPTER 1 . 179 Another Thing Needful CHAPTER 2 . -
Selected Bibliography on Our Mutual Friend for the 2014 Dickens Universe August 3-9 UC Santa Cruz
Selected Bibliography on Our Mutual Friend for the 2014 Dickens Universe August 3-9 UC Santa Cruz (*starred items are strongly recommended) Reference Works Cotsell, Michael. 1986. The Companion to Our Mutual Friend. Boston: Allen & Unwin; rpt. New York: Routledge, 2009. Brattin, Joel J., and Bert. G. Hornback, eds. 1984. Our Mutual Friend: An Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland. Heaman, Robert J. 2003. “Our Mutual Friend: An Annotated Bibliography: Supplement I, 1984-2000.” Dickens Studies Annual 33: 425-514. Selected articles and chapters Allen, Michelle Elizabeth. 2008. “A More Expansive Reach: The Geography of the Thames in Our Mutual Friend.” In Cleansing the City: Sanitary Geographies in Victorian London, ch. 2. Athens: Ohio University Press. Alter, Robert. 1996. “Reading Style in Dickens.” Philosophy and Literature 20, no. 1: 130-7. Arac, Jonathan. 1979. “The Novelty of Our Mutual Friend.” In Commissioned Spirits: The Shaping of Social Motion in Dickens, Carlyle, Melville, and Hawthorne, 164-185. New York: Columbia University Press. Baumgarten, Murray. 2000. “The Imperial Child: Bella, Our Mutual Friend, and the Victorian Picturesque.” In Dickens and the Children of Empire, edited by Wendy S. Jacobson, 54-66. New York: Palgrave. Baumgarten, Murray. 2002. “Boffin, Our Mutual Friend, and the Theatre of Fiction.” Dickens Quarterly 19: 17-22. Bodenheimer, Rosemarie. 2002. “Dickens and the Identical Man: Our Mutual Friend Doubled.” Dickens Studies Annual 31: 159-174. Boehm, Katharina. 2013. “Monstrous Births and Saltationism in Our Mutual Friend and Popular Anatomical Museums.” In Charles Dickens and the Sciences of Childhood: Popular Medicine, Child Health and Victorian Culture, ch. 5. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. -
Troubled Masculinity at Midlife: a Study of Dickens's Hard Times
235 Troubled Masculinity at Midlife: A Study of Dickens’s Hard Times HATADA Mio Hard Timesで提示される “Fact”と“Fancy”の2つの対照的な世界、あるいは価値観は、一見 すると相反するもののように思われるが、この小説は両者の対立よりもむしろ、両者がいかに 密接な関係を持っているかを暗示しているように思われる。そして、主要な登場人物は複雑に 絡まり合ったこれら2つの世界に、それぞれのやり方で関わりを持ち、反応を示す。興味深い ことに、2つの絡み合う世界は、主要な人物(その多くは中年の男性である)の抱えている問 題とも密接な関係を持っている。本稿ではHard Timesにおける2つの世界を、作品中で直接姿 を現すことのないSissy の父親の存在を手がかりに、中年期の男性が経験するmasculinityの危 機、という観点から再考している。 キーワード:aging, masculinity, gender Introduction It is well known that F. R. Leavis included Hard Times in his work The Great Tradition, calling it “a completely serious work of art” (Leavis 258) with the “subtlety of achieved art” (Leavis 279). Much earlier, John Ruskin estimated the novel as “the greatest” of Dickens’s novels, and asserted that it “should be studied with close and earnest care by persons interested in social questions” (34). Many other critics make much of the aspect of Hard Times as a critique of the contemporary society, and it has often been treated with other industrial novels such as Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South (1855). Humphry House, for instance, points out that Dickens was “thinking much more about social problems,” and that “Hard Times is one of Dickens’s most thought-about books.” He goes on to assert that “in the ’fi fties, his novels begin to show a greater complication of plot than before” because “ he was intending to use them as a vehicle of more concentrated sociological argument” (House 205). David Lodge, too, affi rms, “Hard Times manifests its identity as a polemical work, a critique of mid-Victorian industrial society dominated by materialism, acquisitiveness and ruthlessly competitive capitalist economics,” which are “represented... by the Utilitarians” (Lodge 69‒70). -
Katie Wetzel MA Thesis Final SP12
DOMESTIC TRAUMA AND COLONIAL GUILT: A STUDY OF SLOW VIOLENCE IN DOMBEY AND SON AND BLEAK HOUSE BY KATHERINE E. WETZEL Submitted to the graduate degree program in English and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. _____________________________ Chairperson Dr. Dorice Elliott _____________________________ Dr. Anna Neill _____________________________ Dr. Paul Outka Date Defended: April 3, 2012 ii The Thesis Committee for Katherine E. Wetzel certifies that this is the approved version of the following thesis: DOMESTIC TRAUMA AND COLONIAL GUILT: A STUDY OF SLOW VIOLENCE IN DOMBEY AND SON AND BLEAK HOUSE _______________________________ Chairperson Dr. Dorice Elliott Date Approved: April 3, 2012 iii Abstract In this study of Charles Dickens’s Dombey and Son and Bleak House, I examine the two forms of violence that occur within the homes: slow violence through the naturalized practices of the everyday and immediate forms of violence. I argue that these novels prioritize the immediate forms of violence and trauma within the home and the intimate spaces of the family in order to avoid the colonial anxiety and guilt that is embedded in the naturalized practices of the everyday. For this I utilize Rob Nixon’s theory on slow violence, which posits that some practices and objects that occur as part of the everyday possess the potential to be just as violent as immediate forms of violence. Additionally, the British empire’s presence within the home makes the home a dark and violent place. Dombey and Son does this by displacing colonial anxiety, such as Mr. -
Representation of Angel-In-The-House in Bleak House by Charles Dickens
THEORY, HISTORY AND LITERARY CRITICISM Representation of Angel-in-the-House in Bleak house by Charles Dickens Shaghayegh Moghari Abstract: This article intends to examine the female characters of Esther Summerson and Ada Clare in Bleak House, written by Charles Dickens in Victorian period. In fact, the author has tried to revisit this novel as a case in point to discuss how female characters in Victorian society, who were depicted typically in this Victorian novel, were labeled as “angel in the house”. This work will actually analyze the concept of “angel in the house,” hegemonic patriarchy, Esther Summerson, Ada Care, and Lady Dedlock as Esther’s foil. At the end, this article will discuss how in the Victorian male-dominated society women were easily manipulated by their male counterparts both in society and at home under the label of “angel in the house”. Keywords: “angel in the house”, Esther Summerson, Ada Clare, Victorian society, Bleak house, patriarchy, women 1. INTRODUCTION Esther Summerson, as a Victorian model of woman, is marvelously perfect in numerous ways. The qualities which she possesses in the novel include prettiness, humbleness, modesty, quietness, assiduousness, and thankfulness. She is a good caretaker, and homemaker who usually has a habit of working only for the benefit of others. These qualities are what the society of her time desired from her as a woman and she did stick to these criteria as a woman. Charles Dickens in his book informs us about Esther. The Victorian society advocated ‘Submission, self-denial, diligent work’ since these qualities were considered as the preparations that the society expected from women in order to regard them as qualified for a marriage. -
Penguin Readers Factsheets Nicholas Nickleby
Penguin Readers Factsheets Level 4 – Intermediate Nickleby Nicholas Level Teacher’s Notes Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens Dickens also loved the theatre. He fell in love with an actress, Summary Ellen Ternan. His reading tours in America were popular. During his second visit there, in 1867, he became ill. He gave his last public The Nicklebys (Nicholas, his mother and sister Kate) are left readings in 1870 and died in June the same year, aged 58, leaving penniless by the death of Mr Nickleby. In their poverty and an unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. desperation they seek help from Nicholas’s uncle – a mean- spirited, cruel moneylender called Ralph. Nicholas’s independent attitude immediately angers Ralph and he is sent away to Dotheboys Hall to teach. He is upset by the mistreatment of the Background and themes children there by Wackford Squeers, the headmaster, and is particularly disgusted by the cruel treatment of a boy called Smike. Education: In 1838, Dickens visited a school in the north of Nicholas thrashes the evil Squeers and escapes to London with England and was so shocked by the cruel treatment of its pupils by Smike, who becomes his close companion. the schoolmaster, William Shaw, that he used the school as a model for Dotheboys Hall. The description of Dotheboys Hall in In London Nicholas continues his one-man crusade against the Nicholas Nickleby caused widespread shock and consternation. ill-treatment of his family by Ralph and the persecution of his sister Questions were asked in Parliament and the government was by Sir Mulberry Hawk. -
Hard Times Major Characters Mr. Gradgrind: Thomas Gradgrind Is the Notorious School Board Superintendent in Dickens's Novel Hard
University of Tikrit College Education for Women Majeed Hammadi Kahalifa Class: Third Class English Department Assistant Lecturer Subj: Novel Hard Times Major characters Mr. Gradgrind: Thomas Gradgrind is the notorious school board Superintendent in Dickens's novel Hard Times who is dedicated to the pursuit of profitable enterprise. His name is now used generically to refer to someone who is hard and only concerned with cold facts and numbers. He is an intense follower of Utilitarian ideas. He soon sees the error of these beliefs however, when his children's lives fall into disarray. Mr. Bounderby: Josiah Bounderby is a business associate of Mr. Gradgrind. Given to boasting about being a self-made man, he employs many of the other central characters of the novel. He has risen to a position of power and wealth from humble origins (though not as humble as he claims). He marries Mr. Gradgrind's daughter Louisa, some 30 years his junior, in what turns out to be a loveless marriage. They have no children. Bounderby is callous, self-centred and ultimately revealed to be a liar and fraud. Louisa: Louisa (Loo) Gradgrind, later Louisa Bounderby, is the eldest child of the Gradgrind family. She has been taught to suppress her feelings and finds it hard to express herself clearly, saying as a child that she has "unmanageable thoughts." After her unhappy marriage, she is tempted to adultery by James Harthouse, but resists him and returns to her father. Her rejection of Harthouse leads to a new understanding of life and of the value of emotions and the imagination. -
The Treatment of Children in the Novels of Charles
THE TREATMENT OF CHILDREN IN THE NOVELS OF CHARLES DICKENS A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF ATLANTA UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS BY CLEOPATRA JONES DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH ATLANTA, GEORGIA AUGUST 1948 ? C? TABLE OF CONTENTS % Pag® PREFACE ii CHAPTER I. REASONS FOR DICKENS' INTEREST IN CHILDREN ....... 1 II. TYPES OF CHILDREN IN DICKENS' NOVELS 10 III. THE FUNCTION OF CHILDREN IN DICKENS' NOVELS 20 IV. DICKENS' ART IN HIS TREATMENT OF CHILDREN 33 SUMMARY 46 BIBLIOGRAPHY 48 PREFACE The status of children in society has not always been high. With the exception of a few English novels, notably those of Fielding, child¬ ren did not play a major role in fiction until Dickens' time. Until the emergence of the Industrial Revolution an unusual emphasis had not been placed on the status of children, and the emphasis that followed was largely a result of the insecure and often lamentable position of child¬ ren in the new machine age. Since Dickens wrote his novels during this period of the nineteenth century and was a pioneer in the employment of children in fiction, these facts alone make a study of his treatment of children an important one. While a great deal has been written on the life and works of Charles Dickens, as far as the writer knows, no intensive study has been made of the treatment of children in his novels. All attempts have been limited to chapters, or more accurately, to generalized statements in relation to his life and works.