Introduction

Dickens: David Copperfield

In this course, Dr Alfie Bown (University of Manchester) explores Dickens’ 1849-50 novel David Copperfield. After a brief introduction that sets the novel in its historical context, we turn to some of the major themes of the novel, including how Dickens thinks about the linearity of narrative (does he know what’s going to happen or not?), his interest in autobiography, the use of comedy in the novel, his interest in the physicality of writing, and the use of character and characterisation in the novel, looking in particular at Steerforth.

Introduction

In this module, we set the novel in its historical context, thinking in particular about Dickens’—and the Victorians’ more generally—interest in autobiography in the mid-nineteenth century.