Dickens's Style Cambridge Studies in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture Series

Charles Dickens, generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian age, was known as 'The Inimitable', not least for his distinctive style of writing. This collection of twelve essays addresses the essential but often overlooked subject of Dickens's style, with each essay discussing a particular feature of his writing. All the essays consider Dickens's style conceptually, and they read it closely, demonstrating the ways it works on particular occasions. They show that style is not simply an aesthetic quality isolated from the deepest meanings of Dickens's fiction, but that it is inextricably involved with all kinds of historical, political and ideological concerns. Written in a lively and accessible manner by leading Dickens scholars, the collection ranges across all Dickens's writing, including the novels, journalism and letters.

Introduction Daniel Tyler; 1. Dickens's umbrellas John Bowen; 2. Dickens by the clock Matthew Bevis; 3. Dickens's rhythms Robert Douglas-Fairhurst; 4. Spectres of style Daniel Tyler; 5. Dickens and the form of the historical present Clare Pettitt; 6. 'Gigantic domesticity': the exaggeration of Charles Dickens Freya Johnston; 7. Style and the making of character in Dickens Philip Horne; 8. Snarling Charles: a Saxon style of restraint Rebekah Scott; 9. Compound interest: Dickens's figurative style Jennifer Gribble; 10. Reading the book of himself: the uncommercial traveller and 'Dickensian' style Bharat Tandon; 11. Lived death: Dickens's rogue glyphs Garrett Stewart; 12. Dispensing with style Helen Small; Notes; Select bibliography.

Daniel Tyler is a Leverhulme Postdoctoral Research Fellow in English at Oxford University and a lecturer in English at Lincoln College, Oxford.