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Review

Author(s): R. D. McMaster
Review by: R. D. McMaster
Source: Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Vol. 19, No. 3 (Dec., 1964), pp. 306-308
Published by: University of California Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2932622
Accessed: 01-09-2015 12:46 UTC

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306

Nineteenth-CenturyFiction

nologyas the engine of democraticprogressand his lifelongdistinction between the industrialistwho runs it and the stock
marketworld. Furthermore,
insistingthat Twain failed to show
how technologycould remold Arthurianpeople missesin effect
his faith-more constantthan many of his attitudes-that the
gloriousnineteenthcenturymade thisself-evident.
To come to the
deepestquestion,when SmithassertsthatA ConnecticutYankee
set out to studyAmericancapitalismand then showshow far it
fellshort,shouldwe decide thatit nevermeantto try?In arguing
thatit did, he grantsits"conscious"drivesbut dwellsmuchlonger
on the latent.Finally,he does not allow forthe problemsTwain
incurredby going back into finishedhistory;Hank could not
succeed beforeThomas Edison, say,had been born. Still,it is all
too much easier to make such objectionsthan build a book as
originalas Mark Twain'sFable ofProgress.I do so becauseitstone
seemsto welcomefurtherdebate.
Louis J. BUDD
Duke University
PHILIP COLLINS, Dickens and Education
Philip Collins' Dickens and Education (Macmillan: $8.25) is
notable for its clear and temperate balancing of Dickens' strengths
and limitations. "Not only does [Dickens] lack objectivity: he has
no respect for it-and, indeed, little understanding of what it
means. Prejudice was the typical habit of his mind." Although "he
neither understands nor respects the more profound and abstract
activities of the intellect," he neverthelessis often "more sensible
than many people who were better informed, better educated,
more reflectiveand clever than himself." His ideas may not be
very original or even admirable, but neither are they cranky: "It
takes a cleverer mind than his to think up really silly and nasty
ideas such as those of Shaw...." Clearly Collins is neither enthusiastnor detractor.His book is a model of sound and thorough
scholarship, of learning combined with common sense. While
it is his business to single out the schools, teachers,and opinions on
education from Dickens' works and set them in their social context, he is thoroughly capable of understanding and enjoying
Dickens' artistry in the process-even when Dickens "exaggerates"-and he often shows himself to be such a shrewd and

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Notes and Reviews

307

convincinginterpreterof individual works that one wishes for


more such interpretation-hisanalysisof Our Mutual Friend is
especiallynoteworthy.
Acceptingthe factthatDickens tended to superlatives,thathe
was the kind of Whole Hog he himselfprotestedagainst,thathis
intellectualboundarieswerenarrow,and thathis rangeof interest
was short(universitiesand public schools seldom come into his
works),one naturallyaskswhyhis viewsare importantenough to
meritsuch a study(this is the thirdbook on the subject). Two
answersare important:first,that in giving the child, and the
child'speculiarwayof seeingthe world,a major place in popular
fiction,Dickens made people "more fullyaware of the children
themselveson whosebehalfwere being foughtall thesebattlesof
organisationand ideology";second,thatevenwhenhis viewswere
conventionalenough when compared with the ideas of people
he was nevertheless
who directlyformulatedand enactedreforms,
The
"the intimateof everyhousehold,"as
Times observed,fora
thirdofa century:"he helpedto createtheambiencewithinwhich
thesechanges,in legislationand in spirit,could take place."
in showingwhat thisambience
Collins is particularlyeffective
was, consideringnot only Dickens' intenseawarenessof his own
childhood, but the books he wrote for his own children,the
experiencederivedfromtheireducation,his limitationsin coping
with themor fullyunderstandingthe social significanceof education in the kind of world that was shapingaround them,and
finallyhis imaginationof thenatureand trialsof childhoodin the
infantsof his novels.The chapteron "The Rightsof Childhood,"
quite apartfromits importancein the studyof Dickens' influence
on education,is as good an examinationof Dickens' treatmentof
childhood as one can find.The chapterson "The Duty of the
State" and "Teachers in the Novels" show,witha wealthof precise detail,what kindsof schools,teachers,and trainingDickens
had in mind in his works,bothwhattheywerein realityand how
Dickens "heightened"them for his artisticpurposes: "Dickens,
inevitably,inventsa bad example whichconcentrateseveryfault
and has none of the counterbalancing
virtuesof the species" (and
ratherthanresortto professorialindignationat this,Collins continues,"It is a pleasureto quote," and does).
Dickens and Education is a more cheerfulbook than Collins'
Dickens and Crime; Dickens had less time to sour on the results

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Nineteenth-CenturyFiction

308

of the reformshe soughtin educationthan on thosehe soughtin


penology.PonderingC. P. Snow's solemn dictum that "Satire is
cheek," Collins observesthat many of the educational practices
Dickensattackeddeservedit, that"On the main issuesof popular
education he was right-headedand good-hearted."Collins obviouslyhas a tasteforDickens'negativeimaginings:"Mobb's stepmother,"said Squeers, "took to her bed on hearing that he
which
wouldn'teat fat.... She is sorryto findhe is discontented,
is sinfuland horrid,and hopes Mr. Squeers will floghim into a
happierstateofmind; withthisview,she has also stoppedhis halfand givena double-bladedknifewith
pennya weekpocket-money,
a corkscrewin it to the Missionaries,which she had bought on
purpose for him."
Universityof Alberta

R. D. MCMASTER

IVOR BROWN, Dickens In His Time

Ivor Brown'sDickensIn His Time (Thomas Nelson and Sons


Ltd.: $5.00) is one of those unfortunateworkswhich sets out in
a modestfashionto accomplisha modestgoal, achievesa measure
of success,and yetleavesone withthe feelingthatit is sadlywanting. For the book courtscomparisons.As we read we remember
that we have been here, or almost been here, before. We see
familiarvistas,familiarpanoramas,and familiarpointsof vantage,
but all strangelyheightenednow by a superficialglare,or just as
hiddenby layersof driftingmist.
strangely
Brown attemptsto place Dickens in his milieu, to give us
the flavors,textures,tensionsof Dickens' world,and then to see
thewritingsas theyreflectthischangingworld,a worldoutwardly
picturesqueand familiar,but inwardlyterribleand remote.Brown
writesfacilely,sometimesthinly,about such intricateaspectsof
Victorianlife as politics,economics,religion,education,and the
like, usually developingeach subject in a single impressionistic
chapter.He also includesmorespecializedchapterson such themes
as prisons,transportation,
drama, the river,fog and filth,and
Christmas.He assemblesa varietyof corroborating
detail,mostof
it familiar,but he occasionallyintroducesfactsor vignettesthat
are new and arresting.In some instanceshe is guiltyof lapses of
fact (for example, Dickens was required to pawn his treasured

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