Dickens and Mass Culture shows that Dickens's unusual success in combining literary with wider popular appeal is directly related to his sense of himself as a mass cultural artist. It examines the ways in which his consciousness of a mass market for his work affected both his cultural vision and practice and his post-Victorian afterlives.
'Dickens and Mass Culture' shows that Dickens's unusual success in combining literary with wider popular appeal is directly related to his sense of himself as a mass cultural artist. It examines the ways in which his consciousness of a mass market for his work affected both his cultural vision and practice and his post-Victorian afterlives.
´Frank'ly Dickens´ is based on comparative stories taken from the lives of Charles Dickens and Frank Sinatra - two men who stand alone in popular culture in their respective representation of the century and the country that they lived in. What was so "Frank" about Charles Dickens? Practically everything,as you'll find out in this book,which leaves the reader wondering whether Frank Sinatra really was Charles Dickens,or if they had merely lived the same myth, as the author claims. Twenty years after PBS first aired the six-hour television series, ´The Power of Myth,´ with Joseph Campbell, the series remains one of PBS's most popular reruns, with the subject of myth still captivating viewing audiences. This story of a shared myth between two famous men whose lives were, and increasingly continue to be, an open book, serves to remind us that we don't always have to look to the ancient myths to gain insights into life. Charles Dickens and Frank Sinatra serve as perfect models of observation in demonstrating how myth operates in the universe in a span of two centuries. This blending of biography, history, and journalism with esoteric thought - all in the context of myth makes the subject of this book a totally original one; a new myth created by the author to help us tune in to some of the lessons of the Cosmos. "The idea of ´Frank'ly Dickens´ is brilliant and the execution is perfect: Patricia Vinci writes American! Her story is clear and precise, breezy and bright. Best of all, she offers something original for all of us to think about and believe in. I loved it! " - Cedric Charles Dickens "Keen observation on the part of Ms. Vinci - who weaves a fascinating tale, while presenting inexplicable parallels in the lives of these two men - invites us to look at reality in a new way. Frank Sinatra would be complimented by this comparison to Charles Dickens. This shared myth theory is probably the most original thing written about the singer since his death." - Frank Waters, a former editor at The New York Herald Tribune and The New York Times
A study of the historical origins of cultural criticism in the novel since the mid-19th century, using the critical theory of the Frankfurt School to declare the critical force of mass culture as crucial to the making of the modern novel. Discusses how mass audiences and politics presented problems to major novelists and how they responded in their writings and lives. Paper edition (unseen), $19.95. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
From 1837 to 1912, Charles Dickens was by far the most popular writer for American readers. Through several sources including statistics, literary biography, newspapers, memoirs, diaries, letters, and interviews, Robert McParland examines a historical time and an emerging national consciousness that defined the American identity before and after the Civil War. American voices present their views, tastes, emotional reactions and identifications, and deep attachment and love for Dickens's characters, stories, themes, and sensibilities as well as for the man himself. Bringing together contemporary reactions to Dickens and his works, this book paints a portrait of the American people and of American society and culture from 1837 to the turn of the twentieth century. It is in this view of nineteenth-century America--its people and their values, their reading habits and cultural views, the scenarios of their everyday lives even in the face of the drastic changes of the emerging nation--that Charles Dickens's American Audience makes its greatest impact.
This volume places Dickens at the centre of a dynamic and expanding Victorian print world and tells the story of his career against a background of options available to him. The collection describes a world animated by outpourings of print materials: books, serials, newspapers, periodicals, libraries, paintings and prints, parodies and plagiarisms, censorship, advertising, as well as theatre and other entertainment, and celebrity. It also shows this period as driven by a growing and more literate population, and undergirded by a general conviction that writing was a crucial component of governance and civic culture. The extensive introduction and selected articles anchor Dickens's attempts to establish better conditions for writers regarding copyright protection, pay, status, recognition, and effectiveness in altering public policy. They speak about Dickens's life as playwright, journalist, novelist, editor, magazine publisher, theatrical producer, actor, lecturer, reader of his own works, supporter of charities for impoverished authors and fallen women, exponent of a morality of Christian compassion and domestic affections sometimes put into question by his own actions, proponent and critic of British nationalism, and champion of education for all. This selection of essays and articles from previously published accounts by internationally renowned scholars is of interest to all students and professionals who are fascinated by the composition, manufacture, finance, formats, pictorializations, sales, advertising and influence of Dickens's writing.
Charles Dickens was the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era is still very popular today, here are collected the very finest of his crime and mystery stories. Some of the stories included are, 'The Drunkard's Death', 'The Automaton Police', 'The Edwin Drood Syndicate' and many more.
This book takes a fresh look at childhood in Dickens' works and in Victorian science and culture more generally. It offers a new way of understanding Dickens' interest in childhood by showing how his fascination with new scientific ideas about childhood and practices of scientific inquiry shaped his narrative techniques and aesthetic imagination.