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Article: Dickens's public readings and the victorian author.
- Article from:
- Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900
- Article date:
- September 22, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Rice University. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Charles Dickens's public readings, performances in which he took up his own novels before audiences composed primarily of readers and brought the characters to life through his impersonation of them, invented a new genre of performance, one we now take for granted. But what were these performances actually like? And what do they mean to our understanding of Dickens, the man, the actor, and the writer? Available to us only through eyewitness accounts, prompt copies with their scribbled notes and Dickens's own remarks about them, the readings are difficult to analyze. Clearly the work of a performer, a man with theatrical experience and talents, the readings were, however, ...