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Dickens's social criticism is one of the most famous and important aspects of his works. This book explores the centrality of his religious attitudes to his attacks on the social ills of his day. After discussing how deeply engaged Dickens was with his religion, the author links him to a group of political and religious campaigners who were pioneering the application of Christian moral precepts to social issues. The perspective this gave him on society is examined in detailed studies of several novels. Looking at his works from this angle sheds important new light on a number of cruxes and controversies in Dickens's oeuvre, including the portrayal of Fagin as a villainous Jew, the hostile depiction of trade unions in Hard Times, the apparent weakness of Dickens's remedy of a 'change of heart' to society's ills and the presence of sentimentality in his novels.
Acknowledgements 1. Dickens's Engagement with Religion 2. Dickens and Early Victorian Christian Social Criticism 3. Oliver Twist and Fagin's Jewishness 4. Christian Social Vision in the Novels of the 1850s: Bleak House, Hard Times and Little Dorrit 5. Bleak House: Law, Religion and Civilization 6. 'Oh friends and brothers': Industrialism and Trade Unionism in Hard Times 7. Little Dorrit: Serving Mammon 8. Dickens and Politics: Temporary and Permanent Revolution 9. Barnaby Rudge and the Struggle for Brotherhood 10. A Tale of Two Cities and the Persistence of Evil 11. A Note on Dickens and Sentimentality Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
LITERARY CRITICISM / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh