Author: Charles DickensPublisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 19
Book Description
A Curious Dance Round a Curious Tree. By Charles Dickens. Together with "1860. Ball at St. Luke's Hospital," Reprinted from The Times, and "Contrast Between 1852 and 1860." An Appeal for Funds for St. Luke's Hospital.
Author: Charles Dickens1852. A Curious Dance Round a Curious Tree. (Reprinted from "Household Words".) (1860. Ball at St. Luke's Hospital. [Reprinted from the "Times".] - Contrast Between 1852 and 1860.).
Author: Charles DickensA Curious Dance Round a Curious Tree
Author: Charles DickensPublisher:
ISBN: 9781980476122
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 25
Book Description
A Curious Dance Round a Curious Tree by Charles Dickens (January 17, 1852).St. Luke's Hospital was founded in 1750 to provide free care to the impoverished mentally ill. It mixed benevolence with "unconscious cruelty" in the treatments used by the "practitioners of old," from restraints and drugs to swings and a key to force-feed recalcitrant patients. Dickens describes this gloomy edifice as he saw it on December 26, 1851, although he notes a "seasonable garniture" of holly. The inhabitants of St. Luke's largely sit in solitude. Dickens decries the absence of "domestic articles to occupy . . . the mind" in one gallery holding several silent, melancholy women, and praises the comfortable furnishings--and the relative "earnestness and diligence" of the inmates--in another. He uses statistics to show the prevalence of female patients, "the general efficacy of the treatment" at St. Luke's, and the unhealthy weight gain of the inhabitants due to inactivity. Dickens describes the behavior of various distinctive inhabitants during the usual fortnightly dance, the viewing of a Christmas tree, and the distribution of presents. Dickens's choice to visit St. Luke's on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) of 1851 reflects in part an appropriate seasonal desire to concern himself, and urge others to concern themselves, with the poor and suffering, as was traditional on this day in British culture. He concludes the sketch with the injunction to readers, "if you can do a little in any good direction--do it," which may be why the Governors of St. Luke's reprinted this piece for many years as part of a fundraising pamphlet. But with Dickens's keen eye for issues of popular concern, this sketch also deftly places itself in a tradition of documents on "asylum reform" as well, as is clear in his informed, repeated retrospectives to discredited, cruel treatments.AuthorCharles John Huffam Dickens (7 February 1812 - 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the 20th century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity. Born in Portsmouth, Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed readings extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms. Dickens's literary success began with the 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers. Within a few years he had become an international literary celebrity, famous for his humour, satire, and keen observation of character and society. His novels, most published in monthly or weekly instalments, pioneered the serial publication of narrative fiction, which became the dominant Victorian mode for novel publication. Cliffhanger endings in his serial publications kept readers in suspense. The instalment format allowed Dickens to evaluate his audience's reaction, and he often modified his plot and character development based on such feedback. For example, when his wife's chiropodist expressed distress at the way Miss Mowcher in David Copperfield seemed to reflect her disabilities, Dickens improved the character with positive features. His plots were carefully constructed, and he often wove elements from topical events into his narratives.
Dickens
Author: British Museum. Department of Printed BooksPublisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 88
Book Description
Dickens's Nonfictional, Theatrical, and Poetical Writings
Author: Robert Conrad HannaPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 612
Book Description
Focuses on what could be described as 'all the rest' of Dickens's writings. This book talks about the author's more than 2,000 annotated entries that identify nonfictional, theatrical, and poetical works by way of extant commentary, since an eight year-old Dickens's first play in 1820.
General Catalogue of Printed Books
Author: British Museum. Department of Printed BooksPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : English imprints
Languages : en
Pages : 512
Book Description
General catalogue of printed books
Author: British museum. Dept. of printed booksPublisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 512
Book Description
Dictionary Catalog of the Rare Book Division
Author: New York Public Library. Rare Book DivisionPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Broadsides
Languages : en
Pages : 846
Book Description
Reference tool for Rare Books Collection.
Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue
Author: Avero Publications LimitedPublisher:
ISBN: 9780907977292
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 632
Book Description
The National Union Catalog, Pre-1956 Imprints
Author: Library of CongressPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Catalogs, Union
Languages : en
Pages : 710
Book Description