The Companion to Martin Chuzzlewit

Critical responses to Martin Chuzzlewit (1843-44) have varied. His sixth novel has been recognised as Dickens's first mature work and as an achievement of less certain status. By examining the overlapping contexts within which Dickens wrote, The Companion to 'Martin Chuzzlewit' makes original contributions to our understanding of Martin Chuzzlewit and its critical reception.
The notes revise and expand the conventional wisdom regarding the sources for the American chapters, demonstrating that Dickens drew on a much wider field of writings about America than has been traditionally acknowledged. A more complete context provides insight into Dickens's composing process, allows us to read more accurately the ideological ground on which he constructed his view of America, and sheds light on the plot anomalies surrounding young Martin's emigration. The notes show how in fictionalising his own firsthand experiences, Dickens simultaneously engaged in a quite specific process of revising other travel accounts. Dickens, the rhetorician, emerges as his characters engage the claims and counterclaims of other travel writers in order to make the best case for the novelist's increasingly negative and cynical view of America.

Dr Nancy Aycock Metz has written articles on Dickens, Trollope and Victorian urban culture. She is an Associate Professor of English at Virginia Tech, USA.