The scriptures of Charles Dickens
Subtitle: novels of ideology, novels of the self
By: Vincent Newey.
Series: The nineteenth century; Nineteenth century (Aldershot, England)
Publisher: Ashgate
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Aldershot, Hants, England; Burlington, VT
Language: eng
Number of pages: 315
Subjects: Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870; Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870 -- Criticism and interpretation.; Identity (Psychology) in literature.; Social problems in literature.; Ideology in literature.; Religion in literature.; Self in literature.
Description: "This study focuses on Dickens's response to questions of identity, conduct, and social organization that emerged in an era of major cultural unsettlement and change, not least with the decline of religious certainty and the rise of materialism. An analysis of A Christmas Carol as a paradigm of his concerns and strategies in these fields is followed by close readings of novels from different stages of his career, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Great Expectations and Our Mutual Friend. These, and other works by Dickens, are seen to reflect ideologies currently at work in his society but also, more importantly, to participate in the construction of needful value systems and codes for regulating behaviour. Liberal humanism and middle-class hegemony feature largely in this process of culture formation, where Dickens played a crucial role in formulating and promulgating such salient guiding principles as those of sympathy, marriage and the family, economic responsibility, and hierarchy within and between groups."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [295]-307) and index.