Through a comprehensive study of Dickens' career this work examines the crucial role played by London in the character of the man and the development of his writing. It discusses the significance of Dickens' early childhood experience in moving to London, and the special place the city came to hold in his creative imagination throughout his life. Then, blending biography and literary analysis with urban and social history, Dr Schwarzbach traces the fascinating and often dramatic relationship of the novels to the ever changing Victorian urban scene. The novels emerge not only as valuable historical documents, astonishing in their comprehensiveness and accuracy of detail, but as a unique contribution to the growth of modern urban culture.

Dr Schwarzbach is Assistant Professor of English Literature at Washington University in St Louis.