Author Archives: Brian Gibson

As we have discussed in class, Dickens was writing in a transitive time. With the rise of the publishing industry and literacy rates, the market for literature was completely changed. However this explosion of print that has endured up until … Continue reading →

I’m also an econ major so I thought it’d be interesting to look up some statistics about the advertising industry, and wow I was shocked when I found them. Statista is a great website that I have used a lot … Continue reading →

Here I’ve attached a link to “The Christmas Chapter from The Pickwick Papers. First I just thought it was pretty cool that he had another Christmas story, but after reading it is without a doubt a precursor to “A Christmas … Continue reading →

Here’s a very interesting video and article discussing Dickens’ the inimitable, and how he became even more popular than before once he started his public readings. These readings were immensely popular, pretty much the equivalent of a Justin Bieber concert … Continue reading →

I thought it was interesting that Dickens was compelled to address the problem of drug abuse in his final novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood. It got me thinking that drug abuse during the time had to be extremely prevalent, … Continue reading →

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m pretty disappointed that Dickens died before he could finish The Mystery of Edwin Drood. This got me thinking about other times I have been disappointed by an ending to a … Continue reading →

South Park is my favorite show on TV and has been for some time. While some of the content is vulgar and inappropriate I think the creators of the show, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, are two of the best … Continue reading →

In class we talked about the various endings to The Mystery of Edwin Drood that critics and fans have come up with and attempted to prove. However, as we all agreed, some of these theories were simply not supported by the … Continue reading →

Dickens and Collins were superstars of their time, and this success can be attributed to their talent as authors, but also and perhaps equally important, their ability to market their books effectively. Through advertisements and serializing their works, these authors … Continue reading →

In class on Tuesday we briefly talked about Asylums in England, and after a little searching I came across this article in Household Words in which Dickens expresses his views on mental illness and institutions for the insane. The article … Continue reading →