Charles Dickens's "Nicholas Nickleby" (original) (raw)

Discussions of Nicholas Nickleby (1839)

• Autobiographical elements in the novel: Dickens's mother was the original for the querulous Mrs. Nickleby
• Roots of the novel in Pantomime
• Setting in the novel
• Smike and death
• Smike unafraid to die
• William Morris alluded to it in a letter to Swinburne
• Yates adaptation for the theater
• Boucicault's 1859 Smike; or, Nicholas Nickelby

Illustrations

The novel involved close collaboration between the young author and his illustrator, Hablot Knight Browne ("Phiz"), who together visited some notorious Yorkshire schools in January 1838, in particular Bowes Academy in Greta Bridge run by headmaster William Shaw, who in 1823 had been prosecuted for criminal negligence when two of his charges went blind. Wackford Squeers was modelled on Shaw, and Dotheboys Hall on his "Academy."

• Phiz (Hablot K. Brown)
  • Cover for Monthly Parts
  • The Country Manager Rehearses a Combat
  • The Children at Their Cousin's Grave
  • Mr. Ralph Nickleby's First Visit to His Poor Relations
  • Nicholas Astonishes Mr. Squeers and Family
  • A Sudden Recognition, Unexpected on Both Sides
  • The Last Brawl between Sir Mulbery and His Pupil
• Unidentified illustrator for the Co-operative Publication Society's edition of Dicken's works [1912?]
  • The Theatrical Emotion of Mr. Vincent Crummels
  • Ralph makes one last appointment — and keeps it

Last modified 16 September 2005

Last modified 8 June 2007