Kathleen Tillotson – författare

A scholarly edition of a work by Charles Dickens. The edition presents an authoritative text, together with an introduction, commentary notes, and scholarly apparatus.

The Pilgrim Edition of the Letters of Charles Dickens Volume 3. 1842-1843

The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Literary Criticism / General; Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh; Fiction / Classics;

This volume presents 1,592 letters, 668 of them previously unpublished, for the years 1850 to 1852. This was a time of great activity for Dickens, who completed the serial publication of David Copperfield, began work on Bleak House, successfully established the weekly Household Words (in which his own serial A Child's History of England appeared), and wrote about 100 articles and stories for the journal, including many uncollected pieces. In April 1851 he and Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton founded the Guild of Literature and Art, a scheme to help writers and artists. He also suffered a number of personal blows: the deaths of his father, his baby daughter Dora, and two of his close friends, Richard Watson and Alfred D'Orsay; there was also anxiety over the illness of his wife Catherine.

This volume presents 1,251 letters, 447 previously unpublished, for the years 1853 to 1855; it also includes, as a substantial Appendix of Addenda, over 280 letters of the years 1831 to 1852 which came to light too late for earlier volumes. The period is one of activity remarkable even for Dickens. Besides the continuous editing of Household Words (where his Hard Times appears as a weekly serial), he is still at work on Bleak House until August 1853 and in 1855 is writing the early numbers of Little Dorrit. He manages and acts in children's plays in his little Tavistock House theatre on Twelfth Night, and later takes the leading part in Wilkie Collins's drama The Lighthouse with great effect. Work with Miss Coutts and the troublesome inmates of her `Home' increases, and readings for charity have begun. The Crimean war and the government's mismanagement receive much comment in letters and satirical articles, and lead to one exceptional venture into political life with a speech for the Administrative Reform Association. But his long and happy periods of residence in France with his family encourage a more detached view, and he also revisits Switzerland and Italy on a two-month tour with Collins and the painter Augustus Egg. Friends and family still dominate his personal life, but for a few weeks long-past emotions are revived when he hears from his old love Maria Beadnell, now a middle-aged Mrs Winter.

This eighth volume presents about 1,500 letters many of them unpublished, from the years 1856 to 1858. This period includes several major changes in Dickens's public and private life, notably in 1858 when he separates from his wife and starts a new career of paid readings from his works. But throughout 1856 and part of 1857, his main preoccupation is the writing of his monthly serial Little Dorrit; for much of 1856 he continues to reside happily in France with his family, both in Boulogne and Paris, giving racy accounts of its theatres and his meetings with writers and artists. At his own amateur theatricals in 1857, his great success in Wilkie Collins's The Frozen Deep has lasting consequences; at the close of his work for the Douglas Jerrold Fund, the play is repeated with professional actresses, including three members of the Ternan family. Later rumours of his relations with a young actress (Ellen Ternan) provoke him to an ill-advised public statement which leads to a breach with his publishers and with one of his closest friends, Mark lemon. Finally, he embarks on the first of many strenuous reading tours, giving 85 readings in over 40 towns, all within three months. His usual activities are not neglected: he makes many speeches for good causes, and continues to edit Household Words (and its successor All the Year Round), with help from his friend and assistant editor Wills. Throughout, there is new material, both in the letters and in the editors' annotation, with some fresh interpretation of controversial matters.

This book examines four novels and contemporary views about novels which can contribute to a fuller understanding of the great English novels of the 1840s. The novels chosen for this study are of the 1840s as well as for all time. English novels of the 1840s are particularly interesting because it was during this period that the novel was in the process of becoming the dominant form and it was during this same period that critics began to say what they continued to say more forcibly for the next forty years or so.

The new Oxford World's Classics edition of Oliver Twist is based on the authoritative Clarendon edition, which uses Dickens's revised text of 1846. It includes his preface of 1841 in which he defended himself against hostile criticism, and includes all 24 original illustrations by George Cruikshank. Stephen Gill's groundbreaking Introduction gives a fascinating new account of the novel. He also provides appendices on Dickens and Cruikshank, on Dickens's Preface and the Newgate Novel Controversy, on Oliver Twist and the New Poor Law and on thieves' slang. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

This book marks a new departure in the study of Dickens. The authors make use of first-hand evidence of Dickens’ actual methods and conditions of work; much of this evidence is examined and co-ordinated here for the first time. It includes Dickens’ detailed manuscript notes for novels, with a complete transcript of these for every instalment and chapter of David Copperfield. Seven other books are chosen, so that the different stages of his career and different kinds of work are well represented. The volume illustrates what modes of planning Dickens evolved as best suited to his genius and to the demands of serial publication, monthly or weekly; how he responded to the events of the day; and how he yet managed to combine the freshness of this "periodical", almost journalistic approach with the art of the novel.

This book marks a new departure in the study of Dickens. The authors make use of first-hand evidence of Dickens’ actual methods and conditions of work; much of this evidence is examined and co-ordinated here for the first time. It includes Dickens’ detailed manuscript notes for novels, with a complete transcript of these for every instalment and chapter of David Copperfield. Seven other books are chosen, so that the different stages of his career and different kinds of work are well represented. The volume illustrates what modes of planning Dickens evolved as best suited to his genius and to the demands of serial publication, monthly or weekly; how he responded to the events of the day; and how he yet managed to combine the freshness of this "periodical", almost journalistic approach with the art of the novel.