Charles DickensThis long-awaited biography, twenty years after the last major account, uncovers Dickens the man through the profession in which he excelled. Drawing on a lifetime's study of this prodigiously brilliant figure, Michael Slater explores the personal and emotional life, the high-profile public activities, the relentless travel, the charitable works, the amateur theatricals and the astonishing productivity. But the core focus is Dickens? career as a writer and professional author, covering not only his big novels but also his phenomenal output of other writing--letters, journalism, shorter fiction, plays, verses, essays, writings for children, travel books, speeches, and scripts for his public readings, and the relationships among them. Slater's account, rooted in deep research but written with affection, clarity, and economy, illuminates the context of each of the great novels while locating the life of the author within the imagination that created them. It highlights Dickens? boundless energy, his passion for order and fascination with disorder, his organizational genius, his deep concern for the poor and outrage at indifference towards them, his susceptibility towards young women, his love of Christmas and fairy tales, and his hatred of tyranny. Richly and precisely illustrated with many rare images, this masterly work on the complete Dickens, man and writer, becomes the indispensable guide and companion to one of the greatest novelists in the languag |
Contents
1 | |
14 | |
31 | |
59 | |
5 Editing Bentleys Magazine 18361837 | 85 |
6 Periodicals into novels 18371839 | 110 |
7 The Master Humphrey experiment 18401841 | 140 |
8 America brought to book 1842 | 175 |
17 Writing Little Dorrit among other things 18551857 | 387 |
performing The Frozen Deep and finishing Little Dorrit 1857 | 416 |
19 Writing off a marriage 18571858 | 432 |
the public readings 1858 | 461 |
writing for All the Year Round 18591861 | 469 |
22 Christmas numbers public readings and uncommercial travels 18611863 | 498 |
writing Our Mutual Friend 18641865 | 521 |
24 Last Christmas numbers 18651867 | 545 |
England Italy England 18421845 | 207 |
daily nooses and the noose itself 1846 | 241 |
11 Dombey and other dealings 18461848 | 254 |
12 From Dombey to Copperfield 18481849 | 275 |
writing David Copperfield and beginning Household Words 18491850 | 289 |
14 The year of the Guild 18501851 | 319 |
15 Writing Bleak House 18521853 | 340 |
16 Writing For These Times 18531854 | 363 |
25 Writing and reading for America 18671868 | 561 |
26 Disappearances and deaths 18681870 | 585 |
27 Charles Dickenss explanations | 615 |
624 | |
Notes | 627 |
671 | |
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