Dickens and the Politics of the Family [Hardcover]

Examination of the representation of the family in Dickens's novels.The fictional representation of the family has long been regarded as a Dieckensian speciality; yet any close examination of his novels reveals a remarkable disjunction between his image as the quintessential celebrant of the hearth, and his interest in fractured families. Drawing upon feminist and new historicist methodologies, Catherine Waters argues that Dickens's novels record a shift in notions of the family away from stress upon the importance of lineage and blood towards a new ideal of domesticity assumed to be the natural form of the family.The fictional representation of the family has long been regarded as a Dieckensian speciality; yet any close examination of his novels reveals a remarkable disjunction between his image as the quintessential celebrant of the hearth, and his interest in fractured families. Drawing upon feminist and new historicist methodologies, Catherine Waters argues that Dickens's novels record a shift in notions of the family away from stress upon the importance of lineage and blood towards a new ideal of domesticity assumed to be the natural form of the family.The fictional representation of the family has long been regarded as a Dickensian speciality; yet any close examination of his novels reveals a remarkable disjunction between his image as the quintessential celebrant of the hearth, and his interest in fractured families. Drawing on feminist and new historicist methodologies, Catherine Waters argues that Dickens' novels record a shift in notions of the family away from stress on the importance of lineage and blood toward a new ideal of domesticity assumed to be the natural form of the family.1. Introduction: the making and breaking of the family; 2. Fractured families in the early novels: Oliver Twist and Dombey and Son; 3, Dickens, Christmas and the family; 4. Little Dorrit; 5. A Tale of Two Cities; 6. Great Expectations; 7. Our Mutual Friend; Postscript; Select ls+