Dickens and Decadence - (Nineteenth-Century and Neo-Victorian Cultures) by Giles Whiteley & Jonathan Foster (Hardcover)

About the Book

Examines themes of decadence in Charles Dickens's work and the ways in which the Decadent movement responded to Dickens.

Book Synopsis

Bringing together leading scholars from the fields of Dickens studies and decadence studies, this collection considers the ways in which Dickens's work can be placed into dialogue with various ideas of decadence. It includes chapters dealing with Dickens's treatment of the decadence he saw manifested in mid-Victorian society; his treatment of the themes of decadence and decay in his work, including anticipations of, and unconscious sympathies towards positions which came to define fin-de-siècle Decadence; and the ways in which Decadent writers from the 1880s-1920s responded to Dickens. This book therefore broadens our understanding of the work and the significance of Dickens as a pre-eminent Victorian novelist and also deepens our understanding of the contours of fin-de-siècle Decadence.

Review Quotes

Here a high-end collection of scholars addresses the great novelist's condemnation of the decadence of Victorian Britain, the decadence of his own prose and his appropriation by the Decadent writers of the Fin de Siècle, one of the world's most stimulating literary periods. Rich food for thought, including examinations of realism, sincerity, cruelty, modernism, magic and even dining.--Regenia Gagnier, University of Exeter