num_pages: 896
description: A parable of selfishness, a grisly melodrama, and an exuberant triumph of comic invention, "Martin Chuzzlewit" gives full display to Dickens' genius. Peopled by many of the author's most famous character creations--among them the memorable Mr. Pecksniff and the inimitable Mrs. Sarah Gamp--it tells a story of innocence, treachery, and retribution, with a young hero who makes the near-fatal error of seeking his fortune in America. The complex plot marks the transition from Dickens' earlier picaresque narratives to the structural unity of his later works; the novel's depiction of American life represents a high point in Dickensian social satire, rendering a judgement since echoed by many foreign visitors to our shores, but never in a form so bitter, so biting, or so wonderfully entertaining. Writing of Dickens, Marvin Mudrick declares: "The point is not that he is a master of the comic and the ridiculous, though of course he is. The operative word is 'extravagances'" it is the unexpended and startling momentum, the reckless improvisation, the demoniacal gusto...that identify the special Dickensian ridiculous."
language: English
title: Martin Chuzzlewit
titlecomplete: Martin Chuzzlewit
characters: Mrs. Sarah Gamp, Martin Chuzzlewit, Mr. Pecksniff
genres: Fiction, 19th Century, Classics, English Literature, British Literature, Classic Literature, Historical Fiction, Literature, Victorian, Novels
ratings_count: 16099
publisher: Signet Classics