Dickens's Hyperrealism - Softcover

Reed, John R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0814252451 ISBN 13: 9780814252451

Publisher: Ohio State University Press, 2015

Synopsis

In Dickens’s Hyperrealism, John R. Reed examines certain features of Dickens’s style to demonstrate that the Inimitable consciously resisted what came to be known as realism in the genre of the novel. Dickens used some techniques associated with realism, such as description and metonymy, to subvert the purposes usually associated with it. Reed argues that Dickens used such devices as personification and present-tense narration, which are anathema to the realist approach. He asserts that Dickens preferred a heightened reality, not realism. And, unlike the realism which seeks to mask authorial control of how readers read his novels, Dickens wanted to demonstrate, first openly, and later in his career more subtly, his command over his narratives. This book opens a new avenue for investigating Dickens’s mastery of his art and his awareness of its literary context. In addition, it reopens the whole issue of realism as a definition and examines the variety of genres that coexisted in the Victorian period.

About this title

About the Author:

John R. Reed is Distinguished Professor of English at Wayne State University.

Review:

“Dickens’s Hyperrealism is a beautifully researched, intelligent, and well-written book, clearly identifying specific topics for each chapter, and skillfully dealing with each, as a contribution to the overarching claim that Dickens’s kind of fiction is not realism but ‘hyperrealism.’ Reed’s scholarship is sound, extensive, and well-documented, and the organization is clear and appropriate.” —Paul Schlicke, honorary senior lecturer at the University of Aberdeen

About this edition

• Publisher: Ohio State University Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0814252451
• ISBN 13: 9780814252451
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 142