21L.705 Major Authors: Charles Dickens
Fall 2009
Professor: John Picker
Seminar: MW 2:30-4:00 (14N-112)
Information:
In this seminar, we’ll explore Dickens’s self-presentation as
the supreme
entertainer of his day, a title he dearly coveted and even died
trying to uphold. His
writing still displays the humor and sentimentality that endeared
him to the Victorians,
but surprises await those who think they know Dickens—and, thanks
to Broadway and
Hollywood, who doesn’t? We’ll cast an analytic eye on the more
familiar material and
also read some of the writings that popular culture largely has
overlooked despite, or
perhaps because of, their very modern sensibilities and
psychological acuity. In
America’s eyes, Dickens may well be identified with the redemptive
power of hearth,
industriousness, and good will toward men, but we’ll examine how
this gave way to a
darker side that was drawn to the mystery and crime that lurked in
London’s shadows.
The reading, which will be substantial but accessible, will include
novels from Dickens’s
early and late periods, journalistic pieces and letters, selections
from significant
biographies and criticism, and modern and contemporary
adaptations.
Announcements
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