Overview

Dickens was known as one of the best after-dinner speakers of his day. It was a period when elaborate formal dinners were the standard fundraising method for charities and other institutes, and the speeches at such occasions were printed by newspapers from shorthand reports on the occasion. Dickens himself did not use notes, but these eyewitness reports allow the reader to gain a very close idea of what he actually said on hundreds of public occasions throughout his career. The organisations he was involved with - here elaborated by extensive headnotes on his participation in each body - give key insights into his activities and thinking beyond literature which are much enriched by reading what he said about them to their members and supporters. As the editor states in his introduction, the speeches are in their own way as important an insight into Dickens as his letters.The late Prof. K. J. Fielding's edition of the Speeches is universally acknowledged as the academic standard version. Each speech was carefully collated from the original reports and any other available sources. Copious notes describe variations, suggested corrections, the context of each speech and further factual information where necessary to understand references made by Dickens. All of this has been preserved in this reprint, which makes the whole edition available for the first time since 1988. This edition is necessary reading for any serious scholar of Dickens or Victorian oratory, and will also be of great interest to anyone studying issues connected with Dickens such as nineteenth-century philanthropy, the 'dignity of literature' debates, transatlantic relations of the period or the changing statuses of novels, drama and journalism.

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Long since out of print, and now not altogether easy to find secondhand, it is a treat to have Ken Fielding's magisterial edition of Dickens's speeches readily available again. These 'occasional writings' contain a wealth of pointers to vital aspects of Dickens's mind and art, and no Dickens lover should be without them. -Michael Hollington, formerly Professor of English, University of New South Wales Celebrated as novelist, journalist, actor and reader, Dickens was in addition an acclaimed public speaker. Delivered primarily in support of charitable institutions, his speeches expound his deepest social convictions with wit, passion and spontaneity. Professor Fielding's edition, first published half a century ago and long out of print, is a monument to scholarship of the highest order. Judiciously assembled from eyewitness accounts - Dickens never used a script - the speeches add a revealing dimension to his stature as a private man and public figure and give eloquent testimony to his deepest social convictions. -Dr. Paul Schlicke, University of Aberdeen, Editor, Oxford Reader's Companion to Dickens

Author Information

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) is one of the most widely read English writers. Dickens started his writing career as a freelance reporter for the proctors in the Court of Doctors' commons, which later served as a source of information and inspiration for many of his vivid characters and social novels. In 1832, at the age of 20, he became a reporter on The Mirror of Parliament and on The Trues Sun. Dickens reported from the gallery of the House of Commons. He soon moved to larger newspapers which presented him with the opportunity to publish a series of papers. Sketches by Boz and Pickwick Papers were published in 1836, the year he married Catherine Hogarth with whom he had 10 children and whom he divorced later in life. Dickens wrote relentlessly with his first novels appearing in monthly instalments, a popular fashion at the time: Oliver Twist (1837-1839), Nicholas Nickleby (1838-1839), The Old Curiosity Shop (1840-1841) and Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty as part of the Master Humphrey's Clock series (1840-1841). Numerous other novels followed: David Copperfield, Bleak House, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, Our Mutual Friend, and the unfinished The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Presenting his readers with a plethora of vivid characters, Dickens's novels were a medium for social commentary as he was a fierce critic of poverty and social divisions of Victorian society. Many of his novels have been adapted for theatre, cinema and television.

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