Every Thing in Dickens: Ideas and Subjects Discussed by Charles Dickens in His Complete Works A Topicon

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Bloomsbury Academic, 1996 M06 18 - 1102 pages

An assemblage of extracts from the complete works of Charles Dickens, including his speeches. The volume reflects the editor's effort to include every notable/quotable passage or short comment by Dickens on a subject which interested the great author. It contains over 860,000 words, and there are over 50 illustrations. Included are 27 extended extracts, largely from the fictional works, which capture the greatest scenes in the oeuvre, including the trial of Bardell v. Pickwick, Ralph Nickleby's frustration and suicide, Jonas Chuzzlewit's murder of Tigg Montague and its aftermath, and Mr. Micawber's demolishment of Uriah Heep.

This reference has over 405 topic captions, or subject headings, organized in 15 chapters: Ages of Man; Body; Mind; Letters and Communication; Spirit, and Moral Qualities; Fellow Man, in Relation; Humankind, in Activity; Three Professions (clerical, legal, and medical); Industry and Government; London; The Rest of the World; Transportation and Travel; Nature, Charles Dickens Self-Revealed; and First and Last Things. Each chapter is provided with a table of contents which constitutes a detailed, fully paginated index of captions and sub-captions, showing the source for each item. In addition, there are exhaustive indexes of Words and Phrases and Localities. This is a companion volume to ^IEveryone in Dickens^R, Volumes I, II, and III.

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Contents

Foreword by Fred Kaplan 29
xiii
Fellow Man in Relation
xxii
Captions and Their Locations in the Topicon
xxvii
Copyright

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About the author (1996)

Charles Dickens, perhaps the best British novelist of the Victorian era, was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England in 1812. His happy early childhood was interrupted when his father was sent to debtors' prison, and young Dickens had to go to work in a factory at age twelve. Later, he took jobs as an office boy and journalist before publishing essays and stories in the 1830s. His first novel, The Pickwick Papers, made him a famous and popular author at the age of twenty-five. Subsequent works were published serially in periodicals and cemented his reputation as a master of colorful characterization, and as a harsh critic of social evils and corrupt institutions. His many books include Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol, and A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens married Catherine Hogarth in 1836, and the couple had nine children before separating in 1858 when he began a long affair with Ellen Ternan, a young actress. Despite the scandal, Dickens remained a public figure, appearing often to read his fiction. He died in 1870, leaving his final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished.

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