Charles Dickens

Michael Slater

"Nicholas Nickleby" is Charles Dickens's gripping story about a boy's struggle to survive and find happiness in a hostile and unfeeling world. As Nicholas attempts to build a new and unconventional family, he is helped and hindered by a host of colorful characters, from his ruthless uncle to the hilarious and theatrical Crummles family and the cruel-hearted Wackford Squeers.

Nicholas Nickleby

This brilliant, classic and scholarly study provides the fullest treatment of a key subject. It is one of the essential works on Dickens's work and life. A substantial new introduction deals with more recent commentary. Dickens's treatment of women is a central aspect of his artistic achievement. Professor Slater examines the novelist's experience of women - as son, brother, lover, husband, and father, and as it affected the deepest emotional currents in his life. His perception of female nature and his conception of women's role in the home and outside it - and the ways in which these found expression in his art - are pivotal topics. Professor Slater has sifted the mass of legends and doubtful traditions about Dickens's private life to present a close examination of his relations with women, and of his views of woman's nature and the womanly ideal. This work offers the most detailed survey of women in the novels, and the most comprehensive attempted. It has been acclaimed internationally.​

Dickens and Women

Thomas Love Peacock

Michael Baron

Headlong Hall ; And, Gryll Grange

Nicolas Bentley

Nina Burgis

Charles Dickens's ability as a storyteller, his keen sense of the outlandish, and his uncanny understanding of human nature give his works a universal and ageless appeal that defies obsolescence. Few other authors have created as many characters and situations that so painstakingly and memorably recreate the social conventions, tastes, manners, and habits of speech of a particular era. This book, the most comprehensive single-volume reference work on Dickens ever produced, provides quick access to an enormous range of information about Dickens's writings and literary career. The Dickens Index consists of over 5000 entries arranged alphabetically and referenced by chapter rather than page number so that they work well with any edition. Thus, the Index can be used either in tandem with a particular work--to check allusions, unfamiliar quotations, obsolete words and slang, and topical, historical, and topographical references--or as an independent guide for looking up characters, both real and fictional, other writers whom Dickens quotes, and institutions to which he refers. But The Dickens Index does much more. It includes: *Entries on individual works that describe main themes, unique features, and bibliographical details of first publication *Over 1,400 entries on individual characters that describe the plots in which they function *Numerous cumulative entries that bring together for the first time Dickens's quotations and allusions (by author and title), his use of such genres as nursery rhyme, and his references to places and institutions *Full coverage of Dickens's publishers and illustrators *An illuminating time chart that juxtaposes events inDickens's personal and professional life with those in the wider world *An appendix covering Dickens's journalism, listing titles, subject matter, and first publication of those writings not covered in the Index itself. All Dickens enthusiasts, as well as teachers and students, will find this a handy reference work to accompany their reading, and those engaged in literary or historical research will find it an invaluable and time-saving tool.

The Dickens Index

Greed makes Ralph Nickleby, a shrewd businessman, overlook the welfare of his nephew Nicholas, and niece Kate

Reproduced in Facsimile from the Original Monthly Parts of 1838-9

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby

The true story of the sensational rumors surrounding the Victorian author—and the attempts to cover them up: “Riveting . . . a scholarly detective story” (The Boston Globe). Charles Dickens was regarded as the great proponent of hearth and home in Victorian Britain, but in 1858 this image was nearly shattered. With the breakup of his marriage that year, rumors of a scandalous relationship he may have conducted with the young actress Ellen “Nelly” Ternan flourished. For the remaining twelve years of his life, Dickens managed to contain the gossip. After his death, surviving family members did the same. But when the author’s last living son died in 1934, there was no one to discourage rampant speculation. Dramatic revelations came from every corner—over Nelly’s role as Dickens’s mistress, their clandestine meetings, and even his possibly fathering an illegitimate child. This book presents the most complete account of the scandal and ensuing cover-up ever published. Drawing on the author's letters and other archival sources not previously available, Dickens scholar Michael Slater investigates what Dickens did or may have done, then traces the way the scandal was elaborated over succeeding generations. Slater shows how various writers concocted outlandish yet plausible theories while newspapers and book publishers vied for salacious information. With its tale of intrigue and a cast of well-known figures from Thackeray and Shaw to Orwell and Edmund Wilson, this book will delight not only Dickens fans but anyone who appreciate tales of mystery, cover-up, and clever detection. “Slater’s work is a fascinating investigation into the nature of scandal itself as much as it is a look at the particular episode.” —TheDaily Beast

The Great Charles Dickens Scandal

This brilliant, classic and scholarly study provides the fullest treatment of a key subject. It is one of the essential works on Dickens's work and life. Dickens's treatment of women is a central aspect of his artistic achievement. Professor Slater examines the novelist's experience of women - as son, brother, lover, husband, and father, and as it affected the deepest emotional currents in his life. His perception of female nature and his conception of women's role in the home and outside it - and the ways in which these found expression in his art - are pivotal topics. Professor Slater has sifted the mass of legends and doubtful traditions about Dickens's private life to present a close examination of his relations with women, and of his views of woman's nature and the womanly ideal.

This 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

Michael Slater

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