Literature and the Arts

Abstract

On the lower levels, the language of bookselling has not changed a great deal for half a century. Its clichés have shown remarkable stamina. On one side of the Atlantic we receive such orders as:

Fill your bookshelves with the most brilliantly colourful characters in English literature … Evil Fagin, the Artful Dodger, pathetic little Oliver Twist, the improvident Micawber, Mr. Pickwick and his friends, poor little Emily, Pip, Scrooge, and the rest of Dickens’ unforgettable characters! Story after story, from his experiences and amazingly fertile mind. Dickens creates a world of larger-than-life people, whose lives you share … their joy and despair, hunger, fear, laughter, greed.¹