Dr John Bowen is Lecturer in English, University of Keele.

Review from previous edition Disclaiming the adoption of any single, coherent, theoretical approach, the book is nevertheless distinguished throughout by the influence of Derrida, Bakhtin and Freud. These influences fuel its pervasive delight in linguistic play and the carnivalesque - in punning, hyperbole, excess, hybridity - and its focus on the transformational energies of Dickens's writing. But in utilising these broadly deconstructive approaches, Bowen never allows them to outplay the writing itself. Reading the novels in sequence, his aim is to "witness to each text's singular force" while showing the various ways in which these novels "enact one of the more sustained projects of textual experimentation in the language". And he succeeds ...The book's ... approach yields some fresh and incisive readings of the novel ...

• Introduction ; Arbitrary and Despotic Characters ; Adjestin' the Differences: The Pickwick Papers ; Nancy's Truth: Oliver Twist and the 'Stray Chapters' ; Performing Business, Training Ghosts: Nicholas Nickelby ; Nell's Crypt: The Old Curiosity Shop and Master Humphrey's Clock ; History's Grip: Barnaby Rudge ; The Genealogy of Monsters: Martin Chuzzlewit ; Index

Dr John Bowen is Lecturer in English, University of Keele.

Review from previous edition Disclaiming the adoption of any single, coherent, theoretical approach, the book is nevertheless distinguished throughout by the influence of Derrida, Bakhtin and Freud. These influences fuel its pervasive delight in linguistic play and the carnivalesque - in punning, hyperbole, excess, hybridity - and its focus on the transformational energies of Dickens's writing. But in utilising these broadly deconstructive approaches, Bowen never allows them to outplay the writing itself. Reading the novels in sequence, his aim is to "witness to each text's singular force" while showing the various ways in which these novels "enact one of the more sustained projects of textual experimentation in the language". And he succeeds ...The book's ... approach yields some fresh and incisive readings of the novel ...

• Introduction ; Arbitrary and Despotic Characters ; Adjestin' the Differences: The Pickwick Papers ; Nancy's Truth: Oliver Twist and the 'Stray Chapters' ; Performing Business, Training Ghosts: Nicholas Nickelby ; Nell's Crypt: The Old Curiosity Shop and Master Humphrey's Clock ; History's Grip: Barnaby Rudge ; The Genealogy of Monsters: Martin Chuzzlewit ; Index

Dr John Bowen is Lecturer in English, University of Keele.

Review from previous edition Disclaiming the adoption of any single, coherent, theoretical approach, the book is nevertheless distinguished throughout by the influence of Derrida, Bakhtin and Freud. These influences fuel its pervasive delight in linguistic play and the carnivalesque - in punning, hyperbole, excess, hybridity - and its focus on the transformational energies of Dickens's writing. But in utilising these broadly deconstructive approaches, Bowen never allows them to outplay the writing itself. Reading the novels in sequence, his aim is to "witness to each text's singular force" while showing the various ways in which these novels "enact one of the more sustained projects of textual experimentation in the language". And he succeeds ...The book's ... approach yields some fresh and incisive readings of the novel ...

• Introduction ; Arbitrary and Despotic Characters ; Adjestin' the Differences: The Pickwick Papers ; Nancy's Truth: Oliver Twist and the 'Stray Chapters' ; Performing Business, Training Ghosts: Nicholas Nickelby ; Nell's Crypt: The Old Curiosity Shop and Master Humphrey's Clock ; History's Grip: Barnaby Rudge ; The Genealogy of Monsters: Martin Chuzzlewit ; Index