KARL SMITH studied at St Andrews University, UK. He held a teaching fellowship at the University of Dundee for six years and is currently involved in educational work in Malawi. He has published articles in Dickens Studies Annual and Dickensian, and an introduction and notes to Dombey and Son.

Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction: Reading Dickens's Novels After The Waste Land 'A revelation by which men are to guide themselves': Dickens and Christian Theology 'The debilitated old house in the city': London as Haunted House 'A great (and dirty) city': London's Dirt and the Terrors of Obscurity 'Angel and devil by turns': The Detective Figure in Bleak House 'A road of ashes': London's Railways and the Providential Timetable 'The secrets of the river': The Thames within London 'A dream of demon heads and savage eyes': The Metropolitan Crowd Conclusion: 'What is the city over the mountains?' Notes Bibliography Index

Dickens's London often acts as a complex symbol, composed of numerous sub-symbols, such as crowd, river, railway networks and police systems. This book is particularly interested in how Dickens's treatment of the city allows him to re-examine traditional Christian discourses on the issues of revelation, renunciation and regeneration.