The Selected Letters of Charles Dickens

Jenny Hartley (Professor of English Literature, Roehampton University)

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English

Oxford University Press
26 June 2015

Biography; Diaries, letters & journals; Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 ; Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers

What was it like to be Charles Dickens? His letters are the nearest we can get to a Dickens autobiography: vivid close-up snapshots of a life lived at maximum intensity. This is the first selection to be made from the magisterial twelve-volume British Academy Pilgrim Edition of his letters. From over fourteen thousand, four hundred and fifty have been cherry-picked to give readers the best essence of 'the Sparkler of Albion'.

Dickens was a man with ten times the energy of ordinary mortals. There seem to have been twice the number of hours in his day, and he threw himself into letter-writing as he did into everything else. This eagerly awaited selection takes us straight to the heart of his life, to show us Dickens at first hand. Here he is writing out of the heat of the moment: as a novelist, journalist, and magazine editor; as a social campaigner and traveller in Europe and America, and as friend, lover, husband, and father. Reading and writing letters punctuated the rhythms of Dickens's day. 'I walk about brimful of letters', he told a friend. He claimed to write 'at the least, a dozen a day'.

Sometimes it was a chore but more often a pleasure: an outlet for high spirits, sparkling wit, and caustic commentary - always as seen through his highly individual and acutely observing eye. Whether you dip in or read straight through, this selection of his letters creates afresh the brilliance of being Dickens, and the sheer pleasure of being in his company.

Edited by: Jenny Hartley (Professor of English Literature Roehampton University)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 233mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 26mm
Weight: 718g
ISBN: 9780199686834
ISBN 10: 0199686831
Pages: 496
Publication Date: 26 June 2015
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Acknowledgements ; Introduction ; Note on the Text ; Select Bibliography ; A Chronology of Charles Dickens ; Abbreviations and Symbols ; SELECTED LETTERS ; Index

Jenny Hartley is Professor of English Literature at Roehampton University. She is the author of two books on British women's writing from the Second World War, and The Reading Groups Book, a pioneering survey of reading groups. Her most recent book, Charles Dickens and the House of Fallen Women, published by Methuen in 2008, was picked Guardian 'Book of the Week' and described as 'brilliant' by Claire Tomalin. For the last ten years she has been a leading member of the Prison Reading Groups project.

Reviews for The Selected Letters of Charles Dickens

In short, the whole book bursts with the author's energy, and you will love him and know him better after reading even a few of these letters. If you don't buy it now, or put it on your Christmas list, it can only be because you already have a copy. Guardian, Nicholas Lezard This is Dickens by Dickens. Do not miss it. Sunday Times Magazine, John Carey