Dickens Club… Supplement to Christmas Books 26 Dec 2022 Attached are two chapters from Peter Ackroyd's wonderful little book: "A Christmas Carol & The Chimes" and "The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life & The Haunter Man…
Dickens Club… Pattern, repetition, revision, and/or morphing of characters, situations, settings, motifs and/or themes 9 Dec 2022 While each of Dickens’s novels can easily stand alone, when taken together they can be seen, ironically in terms of how they were published, as a serial of 14-1/2 numbers.…
Dickens Club… Supplement to Introduction to “American Notes” and “Martin Chuzzlewit” 18 Oct 2022 Attached are Peter Ackroyd's chapters on "American Notes" and on "Martin Chuzzlewit". Please note that the "American Notes" chapter also contains his thoughts on "Pictures from Italy" which we'll be…
Dickens Club… Supplements to Introduction to “The Old Curiosity Shop” and “Barnaby Rudge” 28 Aug 2022 It occurred to me that I had failed to post Peter Ackroyd's chapter on "The Old Curiosity Shop" before we began reading it. So here it is, along with his…
Dickens Club… The Marchioness’s Pedigree 16 Aug 2022 SPOILER ALERT - Not of information, rather of a lack thereof. My discussion here will not spoil the resolution of the novel, but will, I think, add substance to it.…
Crummles & Co (Dickens on stage and screen)… Supplement to Introduction to “Nicholas Nickleby” 31 May 2022 Attached is Peter Ackroyd’s chapter on "Nicholas Nickleby" !! SPOILER ALERT !! nn-ackroydDownload
Dickens Club… Relationship Patterns 27 May 2022 Part One “Reading through a writer’s entire oeuvre one is often struck by repetitive patterns. These patterns . . . assume their full significance only as they emerge in work…
Dickens Club… Supplement to Introduction to “Oliver Twist” 14 Apr 2022 As promised, here is Peter Ackroyd's chapter on "Oliver Twist". !! SPOILER ALERT !! There is a lot of information in this concise essay. Enjoy! ackroyd-otDownload
Dickens Club… Supplement to Introduction to Sketches & Pickwick 3 Mar 2022 To supplement the absolutely fabulous introductions provided by our own Inimitable Wren I've attached below those provided by Peter Ackroyd for both "Sketches by Boz" and "Pickwick Papers". His little…
Dickens' Works… “So Frail a Machine” and “The Carnivalesque City” 13 Feb 2022 I offer two articles for your reading pleasure that I feel enhance and add depth to the Sketches and Dickens's/Boz's accomplishment. “Sketches by Boz, ‘So Frail a Machine’” by Danielle…
All the (Dickensian) Year Round 