Malcolm Andrews: Charles Dickens and His Performing Selves. Dickens and the Public Readings. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Pp. xiv + 331. Paper £ 16.99.

• Dieter Mehl

Dickens had already been a sensationally successful writer for some two decades and many of his characters had become household words, when in 1858 he embarked on the first series of professional readings. These readings, attended by thousands of enchanted listeners, turned out to be immensely popular and were continued until March 1870, when the author after some 450 performances all over Britain and North America finally bid farewell to his audience, less than three months before his death at the age of 58.

Seiten 476 - 477