The Dickens Industry

[A] thorough overview of Dickens critics and criticism since the advent of Mr Pickwick … . What fascinates about this book is, first, the persistence of certain unresolved issues and problems in Dickens criticism and, second, the continuing challenge of verbalising what it is exactly that bothers critics about one of our best-loved Victorian novelists, whose very greatness flies in the face of what we regard as good taste… . Mazzeno helpfully divides his summaries of the ‘Dickens industry’ into meaningful chronological phases, each with its own bibliography… . [He] must have been reading Dickens for a lifetime, [and] handles the sheer bulk of his task with equanimity and fairness. * TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT *Foregrounds very clearly the particular assumptions, preoccupations, and methodologies adopted by these several generations of critics and commentators in a way that casts light in two directions: both on Dickens as a writer and back on the critics themselves, and their times … Mazzeno’s book proves … the very real existence of a thriving and dynamic Dickens critical industry, and I am not aware of a single other work that profiles the material with such breadth and historical reach. – John M. L. Drew, University of BuckinghamMazzeno traces critics’ attitudes toward Charles Dickens, beginning with his phenomenal popularity during his lifetime and continuing after his death through a half century of debunking … Mazzeno does a remarkable job of providing succinct summaries and evaluations of 18 decades of critical commentary on Dickens’s life and work … An invaluable tool. * CHOICE *Even veteran Dickensians will benefit from Mazzeno’s clear insight into the origins and consequences of critical shifts in Dickens studies. * STUDIES IN ENGLISH LITERATURE *The most impressive - and by far the most detailed - of attempts to analyze, categorize, and evaluate Dickens criticism in English. * DICKENS QUARTERLY *

LAURENCE W. MAZZENO is President Emeritus of Alvernia University.

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