A Companion to Charles Dickens concentrates on thehistorical, ideological, and social forces that definedDickens's world.
* Puts Dickens's work into its literary, historical, andsocial contexts
* Traces the development of Dickens's career as ajournalist and novelist
* Includes original essays by leading Dickensian scholars on eachof Dickens's fifteen novels
* Explores a broad range of topics, including criticisms of hisnovels, the use of history and law in his fiction, language, andthe effect of political and social reform
* Examines Dickens's legacy and surveys the mass of secondarymaterials that has been generated in response and reverence to hiswriting

List of Illustrations viii
Notes on Contributors ix
Preface xiv
Acknowledgments xvi
Abbreviations xvii
Part I Perspectives on the Life 1
1 A Sketch of the Life 3
Michael Allen
2 Dickens's Use of the Autobiographical Fragment 18
Nicola Bradbury
3 "Faithfully Yours, Charles Dickens": The Epistolary Art of the Inimitable 33
David Paroissien
4 Three Major Biographies 47
Catherine Peters
Part II Literary/Cultural Contexts 63
5 The Eighteenth-century Legacy 65
Monika Fludernik
6 Dickens and the Gothic 81
Robert Mighall
7 Illustrations 97
Malcolm AndrewsCOPYRIGHTED MATERIAL
8 The Language of Dickens 126
Patricia Ingham
9 The Novels and Popular Culture 142
Juliet John
Part III English History Contexts 157
10 Dickens as a Reformer 159
Hugh Cunningham
11 Dickens's Evolution as a Journalist 174
John M. L. Drew
12 Dickens and Gender 186
Natalie McKnight
13 Dickens and Technology 199
Trey Philpotts
14 Dickens and America (1842) 216
Nancy Aycock Metz
15 Dickens and Government Ineptitude Abroad, 1854-1865 228
Leslie Mitchell
16 Dickens and the Uses of History 240
John Gardiner
17 Dickens and Christianity 255
Valentine Cunningham
18 Dickens and the Law 277
Jan-Melissa Schramm
Part IV The Fiction 295
19 The Pickwick Papers 297
David Parker
20 Oliver Twist 308
Brian Cheadle
21 Nicholas Nickleby 318
Stanley Friedman
22 The Old Curiosity Shop 328
Gill Ballinger
23 Barnaby Rudge 338
Jon Mee
24 Martin Chuzzlewit 348
Goldie Morgentaler
25 Dombey and Son 358
Brigid Lowe
26 David Copperfi eld 369
Gareth Cordery
27 Bleak House 380
Robert Tracy
28 Hard Times 390
Anne Humpherys
29 Little Dorrit 401
Philip Davis
30 A Tale of Two Cities 412
Paul Davis
31 Great Expectations 422
Andrew Sanders
32 Our Mutual Friend 433
Leon Litvack
33 The Mystery of Edwin Drood 444
Simon J. James
Part V Reputation and Infl uence 453
34 Dickens and the Literary Culture of the Period 455
Michael Hollington
35 Dickens and Criticism 470
Lyn Pykett
36 Postcolonial Dickens 486
John O. Jordan
Index 501