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And Pickwick Papers addresses itself to the reader as an original work - original in the sense that one finds a new prospect opening in the development of the novel and a fresh prose style to express it.įrom a sociological standpoint, however, the novel has a serious deficiency. Although the sources are present, they are not obtrusive. And he secularized the otherworldliness of Goldsmith's vicar. In the case of Smollett, Fielding, and Surtees, Dickens changed their coarseness and brutality into a gentler kind of comedy. And in back of the treatment of various scenes lay a broad acquaintance with the theater and its techniques.

The idea of a man going to prison on principle and changing into a wiser, better man was already used by Goldsmith in The Vicar of Wakefield. The farcical scenes of men getting caught in nightclothes have their counterparts in Fielding and Smollett.

Behind the treatment of the law lay Fielding's depiction of legal corruption. Behind the idea of the Pickwick Club and its leader lay the adventures of Surtees' Jorrocks. Behind the episodic form lay the work of Cervantes, Fielding, and Smollett. The themes of money, incarceration, and fatherhood are treated extensively, but Dickens would take them up later and develop them to a high degree of virtuosity.ĭickens did not come to Pickwick Papers without literary precedents, fresh as it seems in the history of the novel. If a woman wants some idea of the world most men live in she could do no better than to read this novel.ĭickens did go on to write greater, subtler, more complex novels, but Pickwick Papers can be viewed as a testing ground for themes and characters in his later works, even if the plot is loose and rambling, closer in form to the picaresque novels of the eighteenth century than to Dickens' later novels or to the future development of the novel.

Dickens understands men and delights in their eccentricities, but women are an unknown quantity to him. They are either sentimental or comic figures and lack the reality with which Dickens draws men. Women are shown either as sweet young objects of romance or as threatening middle-aged predators. The masculinity of the novel rests mainly in the finesse and accuracy of Dickens' portrayal of male relationships. And certainly the major characters are not particularly aggressive, violent, or domineering. It isn't simply that the great majority of the characters are male or that most of the women are treated unsympathetically. Perhaps the most noticeable feature of the novel is its masculine quality. But, again, we experience them through the medium of comedy. Through contrasts the reader comes to cherish goodness and simplicity as they are embodied in Mr.

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As a result we get a full picture of just how valuable these qualities and conditions are. And romance is contrasted with various schemes for mercenary marriages. Innocence and youthfulness are subjected to skepticism, knavery, and prison. Male friendships are set off against predatory wives, widows, and spinsters as well as mean and unscrupulous men. Good food and drink are played off against the grubby victuals and wine of prison. Comfortable travel is contrasted with the stagnant squalor of Fleet Prison. Dickens achieves these values by presenting them against rather unpleasant realities. Pickwick Papers exalts the joys of travel, the pleasures of eating and drinking well, fellowship between men, innocence, benevolence, youthfulness and romance. The important values are precisely those that blend well with comedy. Not that Dickens makes the reader swallow a bitter pill with a sugar coating of humor. This is essentially a serious novel, but its serious aspects are presented in the guise of comedy. Pickwick Papers is a publisher's dream: the perennial best-seller.

The novel is funny, easy to read, rich in characterization, humane and Christian in its values, lively and continuously entertaining - in short, a thorough delight. The reasons for its universal popularity are not hard to find. Moreover, in England today there are men who retrace the imaginary travels of the Pickwickians, as if to recreate the world of the novel. Most 'smash hits' are quickly forgotten, but this novel is still read for enjoyment by general readers. It inspired Pickwick products, literary imitations and plagiarisms, and state adaptations.

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Since its first publication in serial form in 1836 it has enjoyed an immense success. Pickwick Papers is one of the most popular novels of all time.

Pickwick papers