A History of Nineteenth Century Literature (1780-1895)

Name: A History of Nineteenth Century Literature (1780-1895)
Author: Saintsbury, George

Saintsbury, George

English literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism

others remain as some of the best of Dickens' peculiar characters of the
lighter sort, the dwarf Quilp is perhaps his only thoroughly successful
excursion into the grimmer and more horrible kind of humour. _Barnaby
Rudge_ is in part a historical novel, and the description of the riots
of Eighty is of extraordinary power; but the real appeal of the book
lies in the characters of the Varden family, with the handmaid Miss
Miggs and the ferocious apprentice Tappertit. Sir John Chester, a sort
of study from Chesterfield, is one of the most disastrous of this
author's failures; but Dennis the Hangman may have a place by Quilp.
Then (1843) came _Martin Chuzzlewit_, which, as observed, embodied his
American experiences in a manner which may or may not have been fair,
but which was exquisitely funny. It also added the immortal figure of
Mrs. Gamp (not unattended by any means) to the glorious list of his
comic creations. It was in _Dombey and Son_ (1846-48) that the Dickens
of the decadence first appeared; the maudlin strain of _The Old
Curiosity Shop_ being repeated in Paul Dombey, while a new and very
inauspicious element appeared in certain mechanical tricks of phrase,
and in a totally unreal style of character exemplified in the Bagstocks,
the Carkers, and so forth. Yet Captain Cuttle, his friend Bunsby, Miss
Nipper, and the inestimable Toots put in ample bail for this also. And
it was followed (1849-50) by _David Copperfield_, one of the capital
books of English fiction. This was to some extent obviously
autobiographic; but, setting some questions of taste aside, not unduly
so. Even the hero is too real to be frigid; and of the two heroines,
Dora, if an idiot, is saved by pathos different from that of Paul and
Nell, while the insipidity of Agnes does not greatly spoil the story,
and the commonplace theatricality of the Steerforth and Little Em'ly
episode can be neglected. On the other hand, Miss Trotwood, David
Copperfield's schools and schoolfellows, Uriah Heap (not wholly good as
he is), and above all the priceless Mr. Micawber, would suffice to keep
twenty books alive.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

A History of Nineteenth Century Literature (1780-1895)Saintsbury, George

History

A History of Nineteenth Century Literature (1780-1895)

Saintsbury, George

English literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism

others remain as some of the best of Dickens' peculiar characters of the
lighter sort, the dwarf Quilp is perhaps his only thoroughly successful
excursion into the grimmer and more horrible kind of humour. _Barnaby
Rudge_ is in part a historical novel, and the description of the riots
of Eighty is of extraordinary power; but the real appeal of the book
lies in the characters of the Varden family, with the handmaid Miss
Miggs and the ferocious apprentice Tappertit. Sir John Chester, a sort
of study from Chesterfield, is one of the most disastrous of this
author's failures; but Dennis the Hangman may have a place by Quilp.
Then (1843) came _Martin Chuzzlewit_, which, as observed, embodied his
American experiences in a manner which may or may not have been fair,
but which was exquisitely funny. It also added the immortal figure of
Mrs. Gamp (not unattended by any means) to the glorious list of his
comic creations. It was in _Dombey and Son_ (1846-48) that the Dickens
of the decadence first appeared; the maudlin strain of _The Old
Curiosity Shop_ being repeated in Paul Dombey, while a new and very
inauspicious element appeared in certain mechanical tricks of phrase,
and in a totally unreal style of character exemplified in the Bagstocks,
the Carkers, and so forth. Yet Captain Cuttle, his friend Bunsby, Miss
Nipper, and the inestimable Toots put in ample bail for this also. And
it was followed (1849-50) by _David Copperfield_, one of the capital
books of English fiction. This was to some extent obviously
autobiographic; but, setting some questions of taste aside, not unduly
so. Even the hero is too real to be frigid; and of the two heroines,
Dora, if an idiot, is saved by pathos different from that of Paul and
Nell, while the insipidity of Agnes does not greatly spoil the story,
and the commonplace theatricality of the Steerforth and Little Em'ly
episode can be neglected. On the other hand, Miss Trotwood, David
Copperfield's schools and schoolfellows, Uriah Heap (not wholly good as
he is), and above all the priceless Mr. Micawber, would suffice to keep
twenty books alive.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

A History of Nineteenth Century Literature (1780-1895)

A History of Nineteenth Century Literature (1780-1895)

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