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A kaleidoscopic investigation of Dickens''s superhuman imagination, from one of the greatest literary critics of our time. See Dickens as never before in this creative biography of his life through his storytelling - the characters, places and emotions conjured up across all his novels, letters, stories, public readings and diaries.Peter Conrad, one of the great literary critics of our time, repositions Dickens as a true giant of literature - with the rarest ability to create whole worlds. This is a bold rediscovery of Dickens''s universe that both upends our ideas about literature and restores our faith in the power of imagination. Peter believes that Dickens alone rivals Shakespeare - and in many ways betters him. He places great emphasis on Dickens''s journalism and his public storytelling - with wonderful ''in the room'' vignettes - which he regards as essential to understanding this great writer. He charts how the forces of creation and destruction meet in Dickens, who was ultimately, in the unfinished murder mystery of Edwin Drood, destroyed by his own creative genius.This is a celebration, an examination and an exploration of the most powerful and potent imagination in literature. Peter Conrad''s great critical mind is applied to storytelling, making it both a gift if you already love Dickens and a key if you have yet to read him.>
List of contents
Preface: A Visionary Companion
1 On Planet Dick
2 In the Family
3 In the Dark
4 Cabbalistic Words
5 The Great Creator
6 Devilkins
7 In Arabia
8 Species and Origins
9 In the Carvery
10 In the Forge
11 Arranging the Universe
12 Heroes of His Own Life
13 The So Potent Art
14 In the Crypt
Acknowledgements
Select Bibliography
Index
About the author
Peter Conrad is a cultural critic and historian, who has published more than 20 books on a wide variety of subjects and writes regularly for the
Observer. He taught English Literature at Christ Church, Oxford for more than three decades and has lectured throughout the world. He lives in London and New York.
Summary
A kaleidoscopic investigation of Dickens’s superhuman imagination.
