- 368 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
David Copperfield was Dickens's most personal novel, a first-person narrative that reworked details of both the author's lived experience and his complex psychological profile. The present study is a highly original exploration of the sources and motivations underpinning this canonical work, treated here as a melting pot of ideas and a proto-modernist masterpiece. Jeremy Parrott casts himself as a literary detective, tracking down clues hidden in the text, following in Dickens's footsteps, and laying bare a previously unsuspected symbolic scaffolding which ranges across Greek mythology, English history, Romantic poetry, and the latest advances in science. Following the example set by Betsey Trotwood, every proper name in this enormously rich text is subjected to rigorous analysis, laying bare the deepest currents of Dickens' mind and showing him to be an even greater artist than previously imagined. From the search for an elephant in Great Yarmouth to the discovery of the mysterious reader whom Dickens loved in 1850, this engaging and readable study will radically alter what you thought you knew about the best-loved Victorian novelist and his own 'favourite child'.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Half-Title Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- To the reader whom I love: A preface on prefaces
- 1 Elephants, lions and Yarmouth bloaters
- 2 I have forgotten this gentleman’s name
- 3 Don’t be galvanic, sir!
- 4 Not properly born
- 5 King Charles and other Charleys
- 6 Mr. Dick and I
- 7 Looking out for Greek roots
- 8 My mind is so divided
- 9 An innocent, romantic boy
- 10 An Egyptian temple in itself
- 11 The most secret current of my mind
- 12 Britannia, that unfortunate female
- Conclusion: David Copperfield rebound
- Bibliography
- General Index
- Index of Fictional Names