Synopses & Reviews
The Bedside Dickens provides a lively look at this great novelist's life and career. It sheds light on his role as a polemicist and journalist and explores the way his work was long informed by his Christian faith. It also reveals his most persistent literary themes and provides a vivid sense of how, among his contemporaries, Dickens' vast success—and his "radical" politics—provoked both admiration and scorn. Dickens, this study reminds us, saw life as a battle, but as both a novelist and journalist he sought to provide a more hopeful worldview. He repeatedly satirized vice and folly, even as he urged his readers and the leaders of his day to be less selfish and narrow and to "do good always."
Chapters and topics include: Dickens and Animals; Christmas Stories; The Magnetizer; Dickens vs. Thackeray; A Christian Writer; Dickens Down Under; What Dickens Read; Dickens and Spontaneous Combustion; Dickens and Journalism; Dickens on the Couch.
Synopsis
A vital part of English literature's history, Charles Dickens is a natural choice for A Continuum's Bedside treatment, and Brian Murray, an expert on Dickens and 19th- and 20th-century British literature, is the perfect tour guide into the wonderful world of all things Dickensian. Featuring countless fun facts and 175 illustrations--including photos, stills, and cartoons--this is the perfect gift for the literature lover in your life.
Synopsis
A Modern Guide to Britain's Most Famous Novelist
Synopsis
A fun, modern guide to Britain's most famous novelist.
Synopsis
The Bedside Dickens provides a lively look at this great novelist's life and career. It sheds light on his role as a polemicist and journalist and explores the way his work was long informed by his Christian faith. It also reveals his most persistent literary themes and provides a vivid sense of how, among his contemporaries, Dickens' vast success and his radical politics provoked both admiration and scorn. Dickens, this study reminds us, saw life as a battle, but as both a novelist and journalist he sought to provide a more hopeful worldview. He repeatedly satirized vice and folly, even as he urged his readers and the leaders of his day to be less selfish and narrow and to do good always.
Chapters and topics include: Dickens and Animals; Christmas Stories; The Magnetizer; Dickens vs. Thackeray; A Christian Writer; Dickens Down Under; What Dickens Read; Dickens and Spontaneous Combustion; Dickens and Journalism; Dickens on the Couch.
Synopsis
The Bedside Dickens provides a lively look at this great novelist's life and career. It sheds light on his role as a polemicist and journalist and explores the way his work was long informed by his Christian faith. It also reveals his most persistent literary themes and provides a vivid sense of how, among his contemporaries, Dickens' vast success—and his "radical" politics—provoked both admiration and scorn. Dickens, this study reminds us, saw life as a battle, but as both a novelist and journalist he sought to provide a more hopeful worldview. He repeatedly satirized vice and folly, even as he urged his readers and the leaders of his day to be less selfish and narrow and to "do good always."
Chapters and topics include: Dickens and Animals; Christmas Stories; The Magnetizer; Dickens vs. Thackeray; A Christian Writer; Dickens Down Under; What Dickens Read; Dickens and Spontaneous Combustion; Dickens and Journalism; Dickens on the Couch.
Table of Contents
Part 1 - The Inimitable Icon"Life with Father"What Gets Blacked in a Blacking Factory?Dickens's BookshelfSidebar: Dickens's Favourite BooksFrom the Gallery - Dickens's work as a Parliamentary reporterSidebar: A Short Look at Shorthand"I'll Never Stop Saying Maria"--rejection by Maria BeadnellCapsule: Sketches by Boz (1836)The Boz StyleCapsule: The Pickwick Papers (1836)Men with Pens: Dickens's IllustratorsPart 2 continues a Virtual Walking Tour to places associated with Dickens's life and workIncludes Capsules on Life and Adventures of Nichloas Nickleby (1830), The Old Curiosity Shop (1840), Barnaby Rudge (1841)"Who Was Gordon and Why Did He Riot?" anti-Catholicism in Dickens's DayCapsule: Martin Chuzzlewit (1844)Sidebar: A Dickens's Crossword PuzzlePart 3 continues the Walking Tour adn includes Capsules of David Copperfield, Bleak House, Hard Times, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, et al.Sidebar: Dickens and W. C. FieldsSidebar: Dickens in NighttownWas Dickens a Liberal or a Conservative?Sidebar: Dickens on Film"Diagnosis Exhaustion" A look at the medical reasons for Dickens's death at the relatively early age of 58Dickens's Literary Descendents(This is a truncated description, leaving much out, but providing a good sense of this book.)