The Puzzle of Dickens's Last Plot
The Puzzle of Dickens's Last Plot
by Andrew Lang
INTRODUCTION
FORSTER tells us that Dickens, in his later novels, from BLEAK HOUSE onwards (1853), "assiduously cultivated" construction, "this essential of his art." Some critics may think, that since so many of the best novels in the world "have no outline, or, if they have an outline, it is a demned outline," elaborate construction is not absolutely "essential." Really essential are character, "atmosphere," humour.
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