Charles Dickens as an Agent of Change

263 Pages·2019·1.596 MB·English

by  Lena Steveker (editor), Joachim Frenk (editor)

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eDgar rosenberg anD herbert foltinek
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harles iCkens
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oachim renk and ena teveker
Cornell University Press
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Copyright © 2019 by Cornell University
Originally published in 2015 by AMS Press, Inc.
First Cornell University Press paperback printing 2019
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this
book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without
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Visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu.
Printed in the United States of America
Librarians: a CIP record is available from the Library of Congress.
Ebook first published 2018 Cornell University Press
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Acknowledgments
The idea for this book first took form during an international seminar, “Dickens
as an Agent of Change,” which we hosted in June 2010. We are grateful to our
keynote speaker, our revered colleague Michael Slater, whose gracious presence
was a paradigm of the great scholarly spirit of this seminar in general, and
crucial for its success. We also owe thanks to our seminar attendees and book
contributors. The stimulating and instructive discussions with these brilliant
Dickens scholars have been a wonderful and enriching experience for us.
Our thanks also go to our team, our efficient agents of positive change.
Before and during the seminar, Petra Jakob solved many problems, and
Hubertus Weyer took care of all things technological, both analog and digital.
Verena Bernardi, Christina Holzer, Sabine Jung, and Esther Lorscheider were
all invaluable helpers. We also thank Volker Linneweber, the president of the
Universität des Saarlandes, and Erich Steiner, the then dean of our faculty,
for their unfailing support in the organizational stages of the seminar. The
university’s Kontaktstelle für Wissens- und Technologietransfer, Uta Merkle’s
team, were indispensable specialists in all organizational matters. Moreover, we
are grateful to our colleague Manfred Pinkal, who graciously let us convene in
his superb conference venue. Charlotte Britz, the Lord Mayor of Saarbrücken,
kindly gave us permission to use the splendid town hall for the opening
ceremony. In long working hours, Eva Michely helped us generously with the
formatting of our typescript. We are also much obliged to David Ramm and
Albert Rolls of AMS Press for their editorial help and support.

Contents
Acknowledgments v
List of Abbreviations ix
Introduction: Changing Dickens
Joachim Frenk and Lena Steveker xi
I. Dickens and Social Change
Repetitions and Reversals: Patterns for Social Change
in Pickwick Papers
Jerome Meckier 3
Three Revolutions: Alternate Routes to Social Change in Bleak House
Joel J. Brattin 19
Dickens, Society, and Art: Change in Dickens’s View of
Effecting Social Reform
Robert Heaman 33
The World Changing Dickens, Dickens Changing the World
Bert Hornback 47
II. Dickens and Changes of Power
Parrots, Birds of Prey, and Snorting Cattle: Dickens’s Whig Agenda
David Paroissien 61
“The Tremendous Potency of the Small”: Dickens, the Individual,
and Social Change in a Post-America, Post-Catastrophist Age
Nancy Aycock Metz 75
Money, Power, and Appearance in Dombey and Son
Michael Hollington 85
III. Dickens and Literary Change
The Passing of the Pickwick Moment
Malcolm Andrews 99
The Chimes and the Rhythm of Life
Matthias Bauer 111
Radical Dickens: Dickens and the Tradition of Romantic Radicalism
Norbert Lennartz 129
Modern Characters in the Late Novels of Charles Dickens
Herbert Foltinek 145
IV. Dickens and Changes in Popular Culture and in the Theater
The Cultural Politics of Dickens’s Hard Times
Doris Feldmann 159
Conjuring Dickens: Magic, Intellectual Property, and
The Old Curiosity Shop
Christopher Pittard 173
Popular Dickens: Changing Bleak House for the East End Stage
Chris Louttit 191
The Frozen Deep: Gad’s Hill, June–July 1857
Robert Tracy 205
How to Read Dickens in English: A Last Retrospect
Edgar Rosenberg 219
Index 235
List of Abbreviations
The following abbreviations are used in all parenthetical references to Charles
Dickens’s novels. For full bibliographical information on the editions used in the
individual essays, please consult the respective bibliographies.
Pickwick Papers PP
Oliver Twist OT
Nicholas Nickleby NN
The Old Curiosity Shop OCS
Barnaby Rudge BR
A Christmas Carol CC
The Chimes TC
Martin Chuzzlewit MC
Dombey and Son DS
David Copperfield DC
Bleak House BH
Hard Times HT
Little Dorrit LD
A Tale of Two Cities TTC
Great Expectations GE
Our Mutual Friend OMF
The Mystery of Edwin Drood MED