JOURNAL ARTICLE

Dickens's Glazomania, Oliver Twist's Lists, and the Politics of Realism.

  • Published In: SEL: Studies in English Literature (Johns Hopkins), 2024, v. 62, n. 4. P. 707 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Russell, Beatrice Sanford 3 of 3

Abstract

This article explores how early Victorian social reformers deployed lists as sanitation devices to organize messy social and material realities into representative categories. Dickens's own notable reliance on lists has been interpreted as dovetailing with a reformist politics of realist representation. But through a reading of Oliver Twist I argue that Dickens transforms lists from a neutral technology of organization to a more anarchic form in which parts multiply without respect to a larger whole. Dickens's lists mingle various and often mutually incompatible categorical systems and flashily attend to grammatical parts over the regulating whole of the sentence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional Information

  • Source:SEL: Studies in English Literature (Johns Hopkins). 2024/10, Vol. 62, Issue 4, p707
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Literature and Writing
  • Publication Date:2024
  • ISSN:0039-3657
  • DOI:10.1353/sel.2024.a941807
  • Accession Number:180657925
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of SEL: Studies in English Literature (Johns Hopkins) is the property of Johns Hopkins University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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