Word: micawberism
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To Wilson, Dickens' determination to write sprang from a fear of sinking back into oblivion and poverty. His disenchantment with his parents primed him for his eventual satire of the feckless, posturing stratum of society that they epitomized. Father, an expansive but hopelessly improvident clerk, was to balloon into...
Whether Bennett himself was a good or bad writer was a judgment that his sometimes awed, often contemptuous contemporaries were never able to make. Partly it was because his physical presence was so overwhelming. He was a strutting cockatoo of a man, resplendently tailored, grey hair swept up into a...
Britain needs to import vast quantities of food and raw material to live, but it seems increasingly unable to afford the price of these imports. Although British exports are still among the world's highest and have risen steadily in absolute terms, the nation's share of world...
Irish, d'y'see, is the word for Ginger Coffey, and at a guess most people put him down as a prosperous Irish squire. Most people, more's the pity, are dead wrong. Behind the mighty mustache hides a terrified tyke. Inside the classy tweeds lives a...
Mere Mannerisms. Half a dozen variations on this theme help to dispel any notion of Dickens as irrepressibly comic. Other "best stories" of Editor Zabel's choosing include second-rate ghost thrillers and third-rate detective stories. At novel length, Dickens could create memorable caricatures, e.g., Mr. Micawber, Uriah...