Dickens and the Social Order - Hardcover

Magnet, Myron

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1932236376 ISBN 13: 9781932236378

Publisher: Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2004

Synopsis

The noble savage is a monstrous fiction. Man in his natural state is hardly man at all, but rather a warlike animal ruled entirely by his own aggressive and antisocial instincts. By restraining man's animal nature, civilization - and the public authority which is its distinguishing characteristic - makes the achievement of our true humanity possible. Furthermore, all manners and morals rest decisively on the quality of relationships between sons and fathers. While a civilized social order may come at the cost of diminished personal happiness, it nonetheless brings the decencies of law, peace, and prosperity within our reach.
This is the doctrine not of Freud, nor of Hobbes, but of Charles Dickens. So argues Myron Magnet in Dickens and the Social Order. Taking four books - Nicholas Nickelby, Barnaby Rudge, American Notes, and Martin Chuzzlewit - as constituting a distinct and critical state in the development of Dickens's social philosophy, Magnet shows that a surprisingly traditional worldview lies at the heart of Dickens's artistic achievement. He also contends that Dickens's essential conservatism is inextricably intertwined with the liberal reformism for which the great novelist is so well known.

About this title

About the Author

Myron Magnet is the editor of City Journal, the Manhattan Institute's quarterly magazine of urban affairs.

From Library Journal

Magnet contends that the four early works ( Nicholas Nickleby, Barnaby Rudge, American Notes, Martin Chuzzlewit ) discussed here seek to define ``Dickens's understanding of the nature and function of society itself, of civilization considered as a general condition. . . .'' Aggression is the topic of Nickleby, with society in various manifestations as its antidote; the later Chuzzlewit takes as its theme the whole issue of ``human nature.'' Thus, these works differ from the more particular late masterpieces. Because the whole Dickens opus is concerned intimately with definitions of social abstractionsparticularity in the late novels being perhaps an added assetthe value of this book lies more in its close thematical analysis of these relatively neglected early texts than in its general claim. Primarily for academic collections. Robert E. Brown, Onondaga Cty. P.L., Syracuse, N.Y.
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Intercollegiate Studies Institute
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1932236376
• ISBN 13: 9781932236378
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 266