Texts, Contexts and Intertextuality

Dickens as a Reader

Contributions by Barbara Korte Contributions by Francesca Orestano Contributions by Paul Vita Contributions by Paul D. Morris Contributions by Wolfgang G. Müller Contributions by Georges Letissier Contributions by Angelika Zirker Contributions by Maria Isabel Vila Cabanes Contributions by Maria Teresa Chialant Contributions by Michael Hollington Contributions by Saverio Tomaiuolo Contributions by Nathalie Vanfasse Edited by Norbert Lennartz Edited by Dieter Koch

Book cover: Texts, Contexts and Intertextuality

Extent: 294 pages

Publisher: V&R unipress

Subjects: Literary Studies

Series: Close Reading

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(October 2014)

ISBN: 9783847102861

6.34 x 9.25 inches

Price: $94.00

In stock

While Dickens used to be seen as a writer of shallow and sentimental children’s literature, as the prolific caterer to the new market of mass literature, this collection of essays shows that Dickens was not only a reader of high-brow literature, but also expected his readers to understand them in the context of contemporary scientific and economic debates. Covering a wide range of writers – from Sidney, Shakespeare, Cervantes to Swift, Smollett and Bulwer-Lytton – Dickens’s novels reveal a multi-layered cosmos and supply their readers with richly woven nets of intertextuality.


Galt Charles Dickens lange Zeit als der Verfasser umfangreicher seichter und sentimentaler Kinderliteratur, als Produzent leicht konsumierbarer Massenware, so zeigt diese Aufsatzsammlung, dass Dickens nicht nur Leser hochwertiger Literatur war, sondern dass er seine Werke im Kontext sowohl der grossen Weltliteratur als auch der zeitgenossischen wissenschaftlichen und wirtschaftlichen Debatten wahrgenommen sehen wollte.Von Sidney, Shakespeare, Cervantes, uber Swift, Smollett bis hin zu Bulwer-Lytton reicht die Riege der Autoren, die Dickens im Kosmos seiner Romane verarbeitete und zu einem intertextuellen Netz verwob.

Dieter Koch has been research associate in the Department of Anglistic Studies at the University of Vechta till March 2014. Dr. Norbert Lennartz is a professor for English literature studies at the University of Vechta, Germany.

  • Contributions by Barbara Korte
  • Contributions by Francesca Orestano
  • Contributions by Paul Vita
  • Contributions by Paul D. Morris
  • Contributions by Wolfgang G. Müller
  • Contributions by Georges Letissier
  • Contributions by Angelika Zirker
  • Contributions by Maria Isabel Vila Cabanes
  • Contributions by Maria Teresa Chialant
  • Contributions by Michael Hollington
  • Contributions by Saverio Tomaiuolo
  • Contributions by Nathalie Vanfasse
  • Edited by Norbert Lennartz
  • Edited by Dieter Koch