Dickens the Novelist

Biography & Memoir, Literary, Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism
Cover of the book Dickens the Novelist by F. R. Leavis, Faber & Faber
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: F. R. Leavis ISBN: 9780571287079
Publisher: Faber & Faber Publication: August 2, 2012
Imprint: Faber & Faber Language: English
Author: F. R. Leavis
ISBN: 9780571287079
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Publication: August 2, 2012
Imprint: Faber & Faber
Language: English

In The Great Tradition, published in 1948, F. R. Leavis seemed to rate the work of Charles Dickens - with the exception of Hard Times - as lacking the seriousness and formal control of the true masters of English fiction.

By 1970, when Dickens the Novelist was published on the first centenary of the writer's death, Leavis and his lifelong collaborator Q. D. (Queenie) Leavis, had changed their minds. 'Our purpose', they wrote, 'is to enforce as unanswerably as possible the conviction that Dickens was one of the greatest of creative writers . . .'

In seven typically robust and uncompromising chapters, the Leavises grapple with the evaluation of a writer who was then still open to dismissal as a mere entertainer, a caricaturist not worthy of discussion in the same breath as Henry James. Q. D. Leavis shows, for example, how deeply influential David Copperfield was on the work of Tolstoy, and explores the symbolic richness of the nightmare world of Bleak House. F. R. Leavis reprints his famous essay on Hard Times, with its moral critique of utilitarianism, and reveals the imaginative influence of Blake on Little Dorrit. Q. D. Leavis contributes a pathbreaking chapter on the importance of Dickens's illustrators to the effect of his work.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In The Great Tradition, published in 1948, F. R. Leavis seemed to rate the work of Charles Dickens - with the exception of Hard Times - as lacking the seriousness and formal control of the true masters of English fiction.

By 1970, when Dickens the Novelist was published on the first centenary of the writer's death, Leavis and his lifelong collaborator Q. D. (Queenie) Leavis, had changed their minds. 'Our purpose', they wrote, 'is to enforce as unanswerably as possible the conviction that Dickens was one of the greatest of creative writers . . .'

In seven typically robust and uncompromising chapters, the Leavises grapple with the evaluation of a writer who was then still open to dismissal as a mere entertainer, a caricaturist not worthy of discussion in the same breath as Henry James. Q. D. Leavis shows, for example, how deeply influential David Copperfield was on the work of Tolstoy, and explores the symbolic richness of the nightmare world of Bleak House. F. R. Leavis reprints his famous essay on Hard Times, with its moral critique of utilitarianism, and reveals the imaginative influence of Blake on Little Dorrit. Q. D. Leavis contributes a pathbreaking chapter on the importance of Dickens's illustrators to the effect of his work.

More books from Faber & Faber

Cover of the book 'Twas the Nightcap Before Christmas by F. R. Leavis
Cover of the book Alana Dancing Star: Bollywood Dreams by F. R. Leavis
Cover of the book Mousebeard's Revenge by F. R. Leavis
Cover of the book The Accents of Persuasion by F. R. Leavis
Cover of the book Her Book by F. R. Leavis
Cover of the book Come All You Little Persons by F. R. Leavis
Cover of the book The Complete Book of Sisters by F. R. Leavis
Cover of the book Landlords to London by F. R. Leavis
Cover of the book The Making of Modern Ireland 1603-1923 by F. R. Leavis
Cover of the book The Baghdad Railway Club by F. R. Leavis
Cover of the book Storming the Eagle's Nest by F. R. Leavis
Cover of the book Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour by F. R. Leavis
Cover of the book Mametz by F. R. Leavis
Cover of the book Regret at Roosevelt Ranch by F. R. Leavis
Cover of the book The Mirror by F. R. Leavis
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy