Dickens and the Grotesque (Routledge Revivals)

First published in 1984, this title examines the development of a special rhetoric in Dickens' work, which, by using grotesque effects, challenged the complacency of his middle-class Victorian readers.

Michael Hollington

Preface; Acknowledgements; 1. The Grotesque Tradition, Ancient and Modern 2. The Romance of Real Life: Sketches by Boz and Pickwick Papers 3. 'They always Die when I'm at Meals': Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby 4. The Old Curiosity Shop and The New Curiosity Shop 5. The Grotesque in History: Barnaby Rudge and A Tale of Two Cities 6. The Grotesque in America: American Notes and Martin Chuzzlewit 7. The New Picturesque: Pictures from Italy and Little Dorrit 8. Narrative Perspective and the Grotesque: Master Humphrey's Clock, The Christmas Books and The Uncommercial Traveller 9. The Child's Perception of the Grotesque: Dombey and Son and David Copperfield 10. Ironic Infernos: Bleak House, Hard Times and Ruskin's Conception of the Grotesque 11. The Grotesque and Tragicomedy: Great Expectations 12. Opium and the Grotesque: Our Mutual Friend and Edwin Drood; Bibliography; Index of Names; Index of Concepts and Themes