Dickens and Popular Entertainment

305 Pages·2016·12.325 MB·English

by  Paul Schlicke

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ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:
THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY NOVEL
ISBN 978-1-138-64933-0
,!7IB1D8-gejdda!
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ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:
THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY NOVEL
Volume 34
DICKENS AND POPULAR
ENTERTAINMENT
Page Intentionally Left Blank
DICKENS AND POPULAR
ENTERTAINMENT
PAUL SCHLICKE
Firstpublishedin1985byAllen&Unwin
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Preface to the 2016 re-issue of
Dickens and Popular Entertainment
When Dickens and Popular Entertainment first appeared in 1985, reviewers
were generous, and the book sold well enough to warrant publication of a
paperback edition a few months later. At that time (thirty years ago) I was
astonished by how little scholarly attention had been paid to Dickens as a
popular entertainer, and although distinguished work — above all by Juliet
John and the late Sally Ledger — has since extended our understanding of
this central pillarof Dickens’s achievement, much remains to be done. It is at
once an exhilarating opportunity for young scholars and a cause for lament
for the older generation that, more than two centuries after Dickens’s birth,
whole areas of the historical context of his work remainuntapped.
Since this book first saw light of day the magisterial Pilgrim edition of
Dickens’s correspondence has been completed in twelve volumes, only for
scores of previously unknown letters subsequently to come to light; the grand
scheme conceived by that great scholar Kathleen Tillotson to produce an
authoritative Clarendon edition of Dickens’s works, which back then seemed
on course, ground to a halt, with the first stirrings of revival only now show-
ing signs of life.
I am gratified to think that the re-issuing of my pioneering contribution to
Dickens studies suggests that it may still provide stimulus. I wish the next
generation of scholars well in their endeavours to comprehend more fully the
nature of the achievement of our greatest novelist, that supreme popular
entertainer, Charles Dickens.
Paul Schlicke
Aberdeen, December 2015
Dickens and Popular Entertainment is a classic text in Dickens criticism.
Meticulously researched, it is a work of trail-blazing scholarship. Dickens’s
relationship with popular entertainment is so central to an understanding of
his works and worldview that there is now a whole sub-field of Dickens stu-
dies devoted to it. But Schlicke’s was the first to tackle this subject in depth
and head on. It is a testimony to the qualityofits scholarship that it remains
a major workof Dickens criticism and has been since its publication. Always
a staple feature on Dickens bibliographies across the globe, Dickens and
Popular Entertainment has become part of the canon of enduring Dickens
criticism.
Juliet John, Hildred Carlile Chair of English Literature, Royal Holloway,
University of London.
DICKENS
AND POPULAR
ENTERTAINMENT
PAUL SCHLICKE
London
ALLEN & UNWIN
Boston Sydney
© Paul Schlicke, 1985
This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.
No reproduction without permission. All rights reserved.
Allen & Unwin (Publishers) Ltd,
40 Museum Street, London WC1A 1LU, UK
Allen & Unwin (Publishers) Ltd,
Park Lane, Heme! Hempstead, Herts HP2 4TE, UK
Allen & Unwin, Inc.,
8 Winchester Place, Winchester, Mass. 01890, USA
Allen & Unwin (Australia) Ltd,
8 Napier Street, North Sydney, NSW 2060, Australia
First published in 1985
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Schlicke, Paul
Dickens and popular entertainment.
1. Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870-Criticism and interpretation
823'.8 PR4588
ISBN 0--04-800038-8
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Schlicke, Paul.
Dickens and popular entertainment.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870-Knowledge-Performing
arts. 2. Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870-Criticism and
interpretation. 3. Performing arts in literature. 4. Performing
arts-Great Britain-History-19th century. 5. Great
Britain-Popular culture. I. Title.
PR4592.P45S35 1985 823'.8 85-6024
ISBN 0--04-800038-8 (alk. paper)
Set in 10 on 11 point Bembo by Phoenix Photosetting, Chatham
and printed in Great Britain by Mackays of Chatham Ltd.
CONTENTS
Preface page 1x
List oflllustrations Xl
References and Abbreviations xm
CHAPTER 1
Introduction: Dickens and the Changing Patterns
of Popular Entertainment 1
CHAPTER2
Popular Entertainment and Childhood 14
CHAPTER3
Nicholas Nickleby
The Novel as Popular Entertainment 33
CHAPTER4
The Old Curiosity Shop
The Assessment of Popular Entertainment 87
CHAPTER 5
Hard Times
The Necessity of Popular Entertainment 137
CHAPTER6
Popular Entertainment in Dickens'sJoumalism 190
CHAPTER 7
Dickens's Public Readings: the Abiding Commitment 226
Notes 249
Select Bibliography 277
Index 284