Table of Contents

List of illustrations; Acknowledgments; 1. Introduction; 2. Dickens and the 'imaginary text'; 3. Theatrical attitudes: performance and the English imagination; 4. Patter and the politics of standard speech in Victorian England; 5. Charles Mathews, Charles Dickens, and the comic female voice; 6. Patter and the problem of redundancy: odd women and Little Dorrit; 7. Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Promotional Information

This 1998 book is a study of theatrical sources for many of Dickens' characters and plots.

Reviews

"[Vlock] has shown why explanations of the cultural context of novel-reading that emphasize privacy and domesticity are unsatisfactory. She has pointed to a more promising direction for research." D.G. Paz, Albion