Introduction: Dickens in Dismaland

Abstract

Neo-Victorianism, an artistic genre dealing with contemporary works set in the nineteenth century, may be generally described as a cultural time travel. In order to introduce the main theme of this study, iconic Victorian writer Charles Dickens is imagined travelling in the twenty-first century, first visiting Dickens World and then Dismaland, a theme park created by graffiti artist Bansky that is a deliberately ‘deviant’ version of Disneyland. The chapter assumes that Dickens would appreciate more Bansky’s provocative theme park, rather than the canonical and accomodating Dickens World. Accordingly, this introduction (and the whole book) argues that the only way to keep Victorian culture ‘alive’ nowadays is to create a productive textual dialogue between past and present. Victorianism therefore becomes a much more complex phenomenon characterised by multiple forms of ‘deviance’ than it is at first apparent.