This book describes Charles Dickens as an ordinary man who by being perfectly tuned to the public taste developed into a master of his art. The clue to this paradox lies, in the author’s opinion, in Dickens’ obsession with such topics as money, crowds and prisons which touch the life of everyone. From the deep fears of his childhood they became the main food for his imagination. As his creative mind worried over them, so his art developed. This process provided the driving force behind his work, and is at the root of his greatness as an artist.

A biography of the nineteenth-century English novelist, Charles Dickens, emphasizing the value of an imaginative mind.

The essays in this volume examine questions such as Dickens’ symbolism, his political attitudes, his psychological tensions and his artistry. They are also concerned with aspects of Dickens which have been neglected in recent years, such as his handling of plot, his heroes and heroines, his journalism, his religious view and his philistinism.

Although enjoyed my many as a masterpiece of Dickens’ comic writing, Martin Chuzzlewit has long been underrated by professional critics. This volume redresses the balance by devoting its attention to a full critical discussion of the novel and by including a full survey of the critical positions held in the past. As well as discussing the themes of selfishness and hypocrisy, the history of the text is also explored, as is the complex relationship between Dickens and the United States which played a great part in the development of the novel and exerted considerable influence on it early reception.