Conservatism in five novels of Charles Dickens

Abstract

A century of criticism has resulted in the placing of Charles Dickens in every political or psuedo-political camp from communism through democracy to anarchy. Dickens has been shown to be everything from the wildest eyed Wat iyier to the staidest conservative to an out and out opportunist capitalising on the most popular attitudes of the day. Despite the numerous differing views of Dickens stand on political and social questions, there is a paucity of any detailed criticism of his novels except that based on the opinion that Dickens is a radical. I refer specifically to that criticism found in Edgar Johnson's two volume work, Charles Dickens; His Tragedy and Triumph (New York, 1952), and in Thomas A. Jackson's Charles Dickens: The Progress of a Radical (New York, 1938).