DICKENS AND THE UNREAL CITY by Karl Ashley Smith ( 9780230583252 )

Item Details

Title:

DICKENS AND THE UNREAL CITY
SEARCHING FOR SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY LONDON

By:

Format:

Electronic book text

List price:	£58.75
We believe that this item is permanently unavailable, and so we cannot source it.

ISBN 10:

0230583253

ISBN 13:

9780230583252

Publisher:

PALGRAVE MACMILLAN

Pub. date:

15 July, 2008

Description:

Dickens's London often acts as a complex symbol, composed of numerous sub-symbols, such as crowd, river, railway networks and police systems. This book is particularly interested in how Dickens's treatment of the city allows him to re-examine traditional Christian discourses on the issues of revelation, renunciation and regeneration.

Synopsis:

Dickens was no theologian. His direct statements on religion can only take us so far. His task of representing London in words, however, led him grapple with Christianity imaginatively and at a much deeper level. This new book shows how Dickens's London draws upon various forms of symbolism and secular discursive practices and brings them into tense dialogue. Taking its cue from criticism of T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land, it focuses on how traditional religious symbolism fares when it is brought into dialogue with its counterparts in metropolitan reality. A picture emerges of Dickens's London as a melting pot of images created by needs both within and outside the story that provides an insight into how relevant Dickens could be in the metropolitan age.

Illustrations:

6, 2 colour plates, 4 black & white plates

Publication:

Imprint:

Palgrave Macmillan

Returns:

Non-returnable

Some other items by this author:

DICKENS AND THE UNREAL CITY (HB)

DICKENS AND THE UNREAL CITY (PB)

DOMBEY AND SON (PB)

Information provided by www.pickabook.co.uk