Dickens and the Social Order

Focusing on the early novels—Nicholas Nickleby and Barnaby Rudge—Magnet (editor, City Journal) argues that Dickens' support for liberal reforms rested on a fundamentally traditional view of society. Attention is also given to the ideas expressed in American Notes and Martin Chuzzlewit. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Library Journal

Magnet contends that the four early works ( Nicholas Nickleby, Barnaby Rudge, American Notes, Martin Chuzzlewit ) discussed here seek to define ``Dickens's understanding of the nature and function of society itself, of civilization considered as a general condition. . . .'' Aggression is the topic of Nickleby, with society in various manifestations as its antidote; the later Chuzzlewit takes as its theme the whole issue of ``human nature.'' Thus, these works differ from the more particular late masterpieces. Because the whole Dickens opus is concerned intimately with definitions of social abstractionsparticularity in the late novels being perhaps an added assetthe value of this book lies more in its close thematical analysis of these relatively neglected early texts than in its general claim. Primarily for academic collections. Robert E. Brown, Onondaga Cty. P.L., Syracuse, N.Y.