Overview

'Dickens and the Sentimental Tradition' is a timely study of the 'sentimental' in Dickens's novels, which places them in the context of the tradition of Fielding, Richardson, Sterne, Goldsmith, Sheridan and Lamb. This study re-evaluates Dickens's presentation of emotion first within the eighteenth-century tradition and then within the dissimilar nineteenth-century tradition as part of a complex literary heritage that enables him to critique nineteenth-century society. The book sheds light on the construction of feelings and of the 'good heart', ideas which resonate with current critical debates about literary 'affect'. Sentimentalism, as the text demonstrates, is crucial to understanding fully the achievement of Dickens and his contemporaries.

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9781783083091

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Reviews

'In Dickens and the Sentimental Tradition , Valerie Purton persuasively demonstrates that we read too narrowly and do a disservice to Dickens and to our own reading experience when we dismiss sentimental scenes without employing our critical faculties. [...] Purton's study offers a rich context for understanding the sentimental tradition and provides a wealth of intelligent, perceptive readings. [This is] an extremely intelligent and well-researched analysis of Dickens's transformation of the sentimental tradition.' -Natalie McKnight, 'Dickens Quarterly' '[A] challenging study of this vexed literary mode [...] [O]ne of the many strengths of this book is [Purton's] detailed and discriminating discussion of the genealogy of Dickens's sentimentalism in eighteenth-century literary practices.' -Malcom Andrews, 'The Dickensian' 'Purton draws upon an impressive array of eighteenth-century texts to explore how Dickens' own definition of sentimentality was defined and informed by his readings and mis-readings of these works [... and] convincingly argues that while eighteenth-century sentimentalism was closely bound up with anarchic humour and earthly concerns, Dickens' sentimentalism is an attempt to deny the physical in order to present all human experience in spiritual terms. [...] Purton rattles through Dickens' work at a swift pace. Each selected example is illuminating [...] The clear and elegant prose and logical and perceptive analysis makes the book appealing and accessible to scholars and students alike.' -Katherine Faulkner, 'The History of Emotions Blog'

'[A] challenging study of this vexed literary mode [...] [O]ne of the many strengths of this book is [Purton's] detailed and discriminating discussion of the genealogy of Dickens's sentimentalism in eighteenth-century literary practices.' -Malcom Andrews, 'The Dickensian' 'Purton draws upon an impressive array of eighteenth-century texts to explore how Dickens' own definition of sentimentality was defined and informed by his readings and mis-readings of these works [... and] convincingly argues that while eighteenth-century sentimentalism was closely bound up with anarchic humour and earthly concerns, Dickens' sentimentalism is an attempt to deny the physical in order to present all human experience in spiritual terms. [...] Purton rattles through Dickens' work at a swift pace. Each selected example is illuminating [...] The clear and elegant prose and logical and perceptive analysis makes the book appealing and accessible to scholars and students alike.' -Katherine Faulkner, 'The History of Emotions Blog' 'In Dickens and the Sentimental Tradition , Valerie Purton persuasively demonstrates that we read too narrowly and do a disservice to Dickens and to our own reading experience when we dismiss sentimental scenes without employing our critical faculties. [...] Purton's study offers a rich context for understanding the sentimental tradition and provides a wealth of intelligent, perceptive readings. [This is] an extremely intelligent and well-researched analysis of Dickens's transformation of the sentimental tradition.' -Natalie McKnight, 'Dickens Quarterly'

Author Information

Valerie Purton is Reader in Victorian Literature at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge.

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