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Ml? PRELIMINARY SKETCHES: THE SHORT TALE IN DICKENS AND THACKERAY David J. Popowski A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 1974 Approved by Doctoral Committee C(ârîxnte^dvisov Depa © 1974 DAVID J. POPOWSKI ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ,4 fi ABSTRACT The short fictions of Dickens and Thackeray contain the "germs'* for their later, longer fiction. By examining the relationship between the shorter and longer works their process of novel making can be seen. By examining the short fictions that were written at the same time as the novels or afterwards, and regarding them as "chips" from the work bench, more light can be shown on both forms. Some of these tales show fictional explorations that are by-products of the novel; some show a special identi­ fication with the novel from which they are chips. By examining the short fiction of both authors, the most essential germs can be seen that reveal these authors' favorite themes, motifs, fictional tendencies, techniques and characters. In the novels these favor­ ite devices are seen in a developed or more mature form. For example, Dickens' tale "The Black Veil" shows a "parent-child" relationship that in various forms is to dominate his later work. Thackeray's Major British (Paris Sketch Book) is a developmental step for the portrait of Major Pendennis. A number of tales, considered as germs or chips are examined in this dissertation and their relationship to the novels is analyzed. The study concludes that the special relationship between the tales and the novels does indeed exist, that the tales are testing grounds for the fictional imagination, that the favorite themes of the authors are revealed in greater detail, that the tales and the novels show the differences between eighteenth and nineteenth century fiction, and that Dickens and Thackeray were conscious artists and in part systematic planners of their novels. The relationship between the tales and the longer fictions of these authors may also explain why they wrote no literary short stories, though much short fiction. An Appendix discusses probable reasons for the develop­ ment of the short story--as contrasted with the tale—at a later period in England than in the United States. < < ' i n For: Sharon Julia Jennifer Special thanks to: Gini & Smitty I i/ TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 1 A definition of terms .......................................................................................................... 11 Short Story...................................................................................................................................12 Tale.................................................................................................................................................25 Germs.................................................................................................................................................27 Chips.................................................................................................................................................29 A brief survey...................................................................................................................................30 Two "views"....................................................................................................................................... 34 The tale, the short story, England and America.............................................................35 GERMS AND DICKENS...................................................................................................................................38 Germs and Brother Jacob...........................................................................................................38 Germs and the Boz tales .................................................... 46 Germs and the interpolated tales in Pickwick..................................... 59 The interpolated tales in Nicholas Nickleby ........................................................ 84 A chip from the plot of MartinC huzzlewit ..................................................................86 Some conclusions..............................................................................................................................88 THACKERAY: GERMS AND CHIPS...........................................................................................................90 The tale, "the eighteenth century" and the realistic novel......................... 90 Germs......................................................................................................................................................94 Miss Lowe..........................................................................................................................................110 Bluebeard1s Ghost ................................................................................................................... 115 Dennis Haggarty* s Wife......................................................................................................... 119 "A Caution to Travellers"....................................................................................................122 The "conning motif" 128 A Little Dinner at Timmins1 s: a chip...................................... 131 Some conclusions............................................................................................................................138 CONCLUSIONS....................................................................... .139 A last wor’d..................................................................................................................................... 146 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................................... 148 APPENDIX A. Tales: Themes, Motifs, Fictional Tendencies, Developments, Characters and Novels..................................................154 APPENDIX B. The British Short Story: Its LateS tart............................................. 158 ! CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION I take it as an axiom of literary history that the novel developed in America some fifty years later than it did in England. I also take it as an axiom of literary history that the short story developed in England some fifty years later than it did in America. I further take it as an axiom of literary history that Washington Irving invented the short story part way through what was to have been a sketch called "Rip Van Winkle" in 1819, and that the first true practitioner of the short story in England was Robert Louis Stevenson. ("Markheim" and "Thrawn Janet" were published in The Merry Men in 1887.) The short story in England developed later than it did in America in spite of the fact that such literary giants as Dickens and Thackeray wrote the bulk of their works, including novels and short fiction, in this period (1830 ’s--1860’s). The English situation demonstrates something unique. The tradition of the novel was strong at this time as was the tradition of the tale, and for this period England’s national literary situation was like none other, and my principal thesis is this: There is a definite and important relationship between the short fiction and the novels of Dickens and Thackeray. A substantial amount of Thackeray’s short fiction was written before 1847, that is, before the writing of Vanity Fair and Pendennis, while Dickens’ prose sketches and the short stories or tales found in the Pickwick Papers precede, of course, his later novels. My contention is that Thackeray, and Dickens, in some obvious instances, used 2 their shorter works of fiction as something to build upon for the novels, or as "fledgling" novels. Their short fictions, in some obvious instances, are "germs" or "incunabula" for their longer works. It is evident in the longer works that these authors have used themes, characters, motifs, and settings, in many instances, in seedling state that were then developed into something larger, or more complex, or more mature. The short works have literally become notebooks for the novels. Also it can be shown that the short fiction of Thackeray and Dickens that was written at the same time as the novels or afterwards bears an important relationship to the longer works as well. Many of these shorter works can be seen as something that are "by-products" of the novel, they are essentially "chips" from the workbench. I contend that because the short fiction of the authors men­ tioned above have either been germs or chips they will show the novelist at work; they will be shown as testing grounds for the fictional imagina­ tion, and they will reveal the primary themes and motifs of the authors in a developmental stage. In other words they reveal the novelist, the novel, and the process of fiction. Also this germ-chip relationship may show the reason why the tale became ancillary to the novel. Most of my attention will be given to the English novel and tale writers, especially Dickens and Thackeray and to the unique relation between their tales and novels. I will not be giving primary attention to other national literatures for comparisons. Nevertheless, the American short story writers show a number of important points. Irving concentrated his artistic

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