After Dickens is both a performative reading of Dickens the novelist and an exploration of the potential for adaptive performance of the novels themselves. John Glavin conducts a historical inquiry into Dickens's relationship to the theatre and theatricality of his own time, and uncovers a much more ambivalent, often hostile, relationship than has hitherto been noticed. In this context, Dickens's novels can be seen as a form of counter-performance, one which would allow the author to perform without being seen or scrutinized. But Glavin also identifies a rich performative potential in Dickens's fiction, and describes new ways to stage that fiction in emotionally powerful, critically acute adaptations. The book as a whole, therefore, offers a reading of Dickens through an unusual alliance between literary criticism and theatrical performance.

A study of Dickens's hostility to theatre and theatricality alongside the huge performative potential of his fiction.

About the Author
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Reviews
"...this is a title that serious students of Dickens need to read." Choice
"After Dickens is a self-consciously clever book that advocates "takings what we want rather than accepting what we are offered"..." Essays in Theatre
"The entire study is a virtuoso critical and (play) writerly preformance...brilliant and entertaining." Victorian Studies, Summer 2001



Book Information
ISBN 9780521633222
Author John Glavin
Format Hardback
Page Count 244
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 530g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 17mm