This new, corpus-driven approach to the study of language and style of literary texts makes use of the Dickens'' 4.6 million-word corpus for a detailed examination of patterns of lexical collocations. It offers new insights into Dickens'' linguistic innovation, together with a nuanced understanding of his use of language to achieve stylistic ends. At the centre of the study is a close analysis of the two narratives in Bleak House , read as a focal point for consideration of Dickens'' stylistic development through his whole writing life.