The Selected Letters of Charles Dickens by Jenny Hartley

The Selected Letters of Charles Dickens by Jenny Hartley

What was it like to be Charles Dickens? His letters are the nearest we can get to a Dickens autobiography: vivid close-up snapshots of a life lived at maximum intensity. This is the first selection to be made from the magisterial twelve-volume British Academy Pilgrim Edition of his letters. From over fourteen thousand, four hundred and fifty have been cherry-picked to give readers the best essence of 'the Sparkler of Albion'. Dickens was a man with ten times the energy of ordinary mortals. There seem to have been twice the number of hours in his day, and he threw himself into letter-writing as he did into everything else. This eagerly awaited selection takes us straight to the heart of his life, to show us Dickens at first hand. Here he is writing out of the heat of the moment: as a novelist, journalist, and magazine editor; as a social campaigner and traveller in Europe and America, and as friend, lover, husband, and father. Reading and writing letters punctuated the rhythms of Dickens's day. 'I walk about brimful of letters', he told a friend. He claimed to write 'at the least, a dozen a day'. Sometimes it was a chore but more often a pleasure: an outlet for high spirits, sparkling wit, and caustic commentary - always as seen through his highly individual and acutely observing eye. Whether you dip in or read straight through, this selection of his letters creates afresh the brilliance of being Dickens, and the sheer pleasure of being in his company.

In short, the whole book bursts with the author's energy, and you will love him and know him better after reading even a few of these lettersIf you don't buy it now, or put it on your Christmas list, it can only be because you already have a copy. * Guardian, Nicholas Lezard *
This is Dickens by Dickens. Do not miss it. * Sunday Times Magazine, John Carey *

Jenny Hartley is Professor of English Literature at Roehampton University. She is the author of two books on British women's writing from the Second World War, and The Reading Groups Book, a pioneering survey of reading groups. Her most recent book, Charles Dickens and the House of Fallen Women, published by Methuen in 2008, was picked Guardian 'Book of the Week' and described as 'brilliant' by Claire Tomalin. For the last ten years she has been a leading member of the Prison Reading Groups project.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780199686834
ISBN 10	0199686831
Title	The Selected Letters of Charles Dickens
Author	Jenny Hartley
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Year published	2015-07-30
Number of pages	496
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.