Dickens and the business of death

Resource Information

The work Dickens and the business of death represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in University of Liverpool. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Dickens and the business of death

Statement of responsibility

Claire Wood

Creator

• Wood, Claire, 1984-
• Wood, Claire, 1984-

Subject

• Death in literature
• Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870 -- Knowledge | Economics
• Literature and society -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century
• Literature publishing -- England -- History -- 19th century
• 1800 - 1899
• Death care industry -- England -- History -- 19th century

Language

eng

Summary

"Charles Dickens is famous for his deathbed scenes, but these have rarely been examined within the context of his ambivalence towards the Victorian commodification of death. Dickens repeatedly criticised ostentatious funeral and mourning customs, and asserted the harmful consequences of treating the corpse as an object of speculation rather than sympathy. At the same time, he was fascinated by those who made a living from death and recognised that his authorial profits implicated him in the same trade. This book explores how Dickens turned mortality into the stuff of life and art as he navigated a thriving culture of death-based consumption. It surveys the diverse ways in which death became a business, from body-snatching, undertaking, and joint-stock cemetery companies, to the telling and selling of stories. This broad study offers fresh perspectives on death in The Old Curiosity Shop and Our Mutual Friend, and discusses lesser-known works and textual illustrations"--

Member of

• Cambridge studies in nineteenth-century literature and culture, 98
• Online access with purchase: Cambridge Books Online

Assigning source

Provided by publisher

Cataloging source

NhCcYBP

Dewey number

823/.8

Index

no index present

LC call number

PR4592.E25

LC item number

W66 2015

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

• dictionaries
• bibliography

Series statement

CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE AND CULTURE.

Series volume

98