Dickens's Idiomatic Imagination: The Inimitable and Victorian Body Language

Peter J. Capuano's book "Dickens's Idiomatic Imagination" explores how Charles Dickens used bodily idioms to express and develop his sophisticated ideas, focusing on mid- to late-career novels such as Dombey and Son, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Great Expectations, and Our Mutual Friend. It establishes a framework for rethinking Dickens's literary trajectory and its impact on the vocabularies of novelists, critics, and speakers of English.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 15 December 2023
Publisher: Cornell University Press

Charles Dickens' Idiomatic Imagination: An Original Analysis

In his groundbreaking work, "Dickens's Idiomatic Imagination," Peter J. Capuano delves into the remarkable way in which Charles Dickens employed low and slangular language, his own neologism, to express and develop his most sophisticated ideas. Capuano employs a hybrid of digital and analogue reading methodologies to explore Dickens's use of bodily idioms, such as "right-hand man," "shoulder to the wheel," and "nose to the grindstone," against the broader lexical backdrop of the nineteenth century.

While Dickens was renowned for his fascination with the vernacular language of London's streets, Capuano's book is the first to highlight how he strategically employed phrases that embodied actions, ideas, and social relations for specific narrative and thematic purposes. By focusing on the mid- to late career novels, including "Dombey and Son," "David Copperfield," "Bleak House," "Great Expectations," and "Our Mutual Friend," Capuano demonstrates how Dickens came to relish using common idioms in uncommon ways, opening up vast possibilities for artistic expression.

Through his meticulous analysis, Capuano establishes a unique framework within the social history of language alteration in nineteenth-century Britain for rethinking Dickens's literary trajectory and its profound impact on the vocabularies of generations of novelists, critics, and speakers of English. This book is a valuable contribution to the field of literary studies, shedding light on the innovative ways in which Dickens employed language to convey his ideas and shape the literary landscape of his time.

Dimension: 229 x 152 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781501772856