The Companion to Martin ChuzzlewitBloomsbury Academic, 30.11.2001 - 576 sivua If Martin Chuzzlewit (1843-1844) is, as Steven Marcus has claimed, the first novel of Dickens' maturity, it is also true, as Robert E. Lougy has observed, that it is a novel to which readers and critics do not quite know how to respond. By examining the overlapping contexts within which Dickens composed this work, The Companion to ^UMartin Chuzzlewit makes original contributions to our understanding of the novel and its complex reception. The notes revise and expand the conventional wisdom regarding the sources for the American chapters, demonstrating that Dickens drew on a much wider field of writings about America than we have traditionally acknowledged. A more complete context provides insight into Dickens' composing process, allows us to read more accurately the ideological ground on which he constructed his view of America, and sheds light in the plot anomalies surrounding young Martin's emigration. |