Dickens and the Grotesque (Routledge Revivals)

First published in 1984, this title examines the development of a special rhetoric in Dickens’ work, which, by using grotesque effects, challenged the complacency of his middle-class Victorian readers. The study begins by exploring definitions of the grotesque and moves on to look at three key aspects that particularly impacted on Dickens’ imagination: popular theatre (especially pantomime), caricature, and the tradition of the Gothic novel. Michael Hollington traces the development of Dickens’