The course aims to provide students with the chance to study a wide range of works by Charles Dickens (1812-1870) with detailed discussions of eight novels — as well as shorter fiction, journalism and letters — in their historical and cultural contexts. We will look at:

The literary, historical and social contexts of Dickens’s writing
His working practices and attitudes as a novelist, journalist and correspondent
Genres, themes, forms and structures of his writing
Dickens’s language
His idiosyncratic characterisation and original style
Dickens’s legacy and mass culture
Contemporary critical debates