Academiejaar 2008-2009 A Victorian Kodak Moment: The Dynamic between Charles Dickens and Marcus Stone Promotor: Prof. Dr. Marysa Demoor Masterproef voorgelegd aan de Faculteit Letteren en Wijsbegeerte voor het verkrijgen van de graad van Master in de taal- en letterkunde: Engels door Jasper Schelstraete Academiejaar 2008-2009 A Victorian Kodak Moment: The Dynamic between Charles Dickens and Marcus Stone Promotor: Prof. Dr. Marysa Demoor Masterproef voorgelegd aan de Faculteit Letteren en Wijsbegeerte voor het verkrijgen van de graad van Master in de taal- en letterkunde: Engels door Jasper Schelstraete Preface At the end of my final Bachelor year, I completed a paper entitled "The Loss of a Child in Douglas Coupland and Chuck Palahniuk: Theme or Catalyst?". It was concerned with the complete works of the two authors mentioned in the title, both of them contemporary North-American writers. While I was pleased with the final result, one issue concerned me. As a result of the contemporary nature of the novels I was discussing, there were very few sources available to me. Whereas this forced me to be creative with the novels themselves — never a bad thing — it also denied me an integral part of the process of writing a research paper, that of finding and incorporating sources into my work. Not only do they add to the academic weight of a paper, sources also give rise to creativity, as they make it possible for one to offset one's own ideas against those of published scholars. Because of this, I decided that I would write my dissertation on a subject that would have no lack of sources. However, my choice of Dickens was by no means motivated solely by this resolution to find a well-sourced subject. My interest in this great novelist had been sparked a few years earlier, when I read Great Expectations for the first time, as part of the curriculum of an English course. The style and atmosphere appealed to me greatly, and I began reading a few of Dickens's novels as a pastime. As a result, I was drawn to Victorian Literature, and I enrolled in a class taught by Professor Demoor on Victorian Poetry. It was during the exam of this class that Professor Demoor suggested I read Our Mutual Friend, which I promptly did. The book appealed to me, and I was struck by the illustrations especially. They seemed to me neat and polished, different from illustrations I had encountered in for example Oliver Twist. I set out to discover who the illustrator was, and found out that he, Marcus Stone, had very little been dealt with academically, overshadowed as he was by such great illustrators of Dickens as Cruikshank and Browne. Intrigued, I set out to find out more about this largely forgotten illustrator, especially about his link to Dickens. I had found my subject. There are many people I would like to thank for helping me with this project. First, I would like to thank Professor Demoor, not only for introducing me to Our Mutual Friend, but especially for the expert guidance she gave me throughout my writing this dissertation. After every trip to her office, I was filled with new ideas and inspiration. I felt safe in the knowledge that she was so involved in the entire process, and it truly was a wonderful experience. Second, I owe gratitude to my parents, for the way in which they've supported me throughout the endeavour. Whenever I felt an oncoming surge of writer's block, I could turn to them to help me see things in a new perspective. Also the way in which my father especially patiently re-read all my work deserves a big thank-you. Finally, I'd like to thank Charlotte for putting up with my incessant spewing of Dickens related trivia, as well as my occasional outburst of productivity resulting in late night writing sessions, long before there was any hint of deadline stress. Thank you all, it gave me great peace of mind knowing that you were all behind me. Table of contents PREFACE................................................................................................................................................................................. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................................................................... 4 1. INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................................................................. 5 2. BIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................................................................... 9 2.1. THE EARLY YEARS..............................................................................................................................................................9 2.2. 'BOZ' ....................................................................................................................................................................................15 2.3. MASTER HUMPHREY'S CLOCK ........................................................................................................................................21 2.4. AMERICA............................................................................................................................................................................24 2.5. THE BEST OF TIMES..........................................................................................................................................................26 2.6. THE WORST OF TIMES......................................................................................................................................................28 2.7. MANY PARTINGS ...............................................................................................................................................................36 3. DICKENS AND HIS ILLUSTRATORS ....................................................................................................................38 3.1. GEORGE CRUIKSHANK......................................................................................................................................................38 3.2. ROBERT SEYMOUR............................................................................................................................................................43 3.3. ROBERT W. BUSS ..............................................................................................................................................................49 3.4. HABLOT K. BROWNE ........................................................................................................................................................50 4. DICKENS AND STONE ................................................................................................................................................56 4.1. MARCUS STONE.................................................................................................................................................................56 4.2. CASTING THE FIRST STONE ..............................................................................................................................................60 4.3. TWO BIRDS, ONE STONE ...................................................................................................................................................61 5. OUR MUTUAL FRIEND...............................................................................................................................................63 5.1. THE PORTRAYAL OF FEMALE CHARACTERS...................................................................................................................68 5.2. THE REPRESENTATION OF ‘THE JEW’..............................................................................................................................83 5.3. THE CASE OF PODSNAPPERY............................................................................................................................................95 5.4. THE GROTESQUE AND THE MACABRE.............................................................................................................................98 6. CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................................................108 7. BIBLIOGRAPHY ..........................................................................................................................................................113 Schelstraete 5 1. Introduction Charles Dickens’s name evokes a plethora of associations, which might be of a general nature, with regard to a ‘Dickensian England’ or, more specifically, a ‘Dickensian London’, whose grimy underbelly shaped the novelist so extensively. The influence London had on the novelist is not very surprising, considering the extensive changes the city underwent during Dickens’s lifetime, such as the influence of the Industrial Revolution on the city, as well as the subsequent increase in population (Klimaszewski & Gregory, 7)1. Perhaps Dickens’s name evokes rather more specific elements of his work to some readers, such as the memorable characters that he seemed to conjure up so effortlessly. Scrooge, synonymous with a mean, penny-pinching and uncaring person, as well as his catchphrase ‘Bah, humbug!’ have taken root in the English language 2, much like poor orphan Oliver Twist’s famous line ‘Please sir, can I have some more?’