Fictionalising Charles Dickens : his public and private lives in three Neo-Victorian biofictions

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dc.contributor.advisorEllis, Jeanne, 1962-en_ZA
dc.contributor.authorTroost, Josephine Jayen_ZA
dc.contributor.otherStellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of English.en_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2024-02-20T13:09:17Z
dc.date.accessioned2024-04-26T16:07:23Z
dc.date.available2024-02-20T13:09:17Z
dc.date.available2024-04-26T16:07:23Z
dc.date.issued2024-03
dc.descriptionThesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2024.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractENGLISH ABSTRACT: In 1849 and 1860 Charles Dickens burned all of his correspondence and diaries in an effort to avoid his fiction being read/interpreted through the lens of its author’s life. This thesis analyses three neo-Victorian biofictions: Girl in a Blue Dress (2008) by Gaynor Arnold, Jack Maggs (1997) by Peter Carey, and Wanting (2008) by Richard Flanagan to explore the contradiction between Dickens’s public persona and his private life. This thesis explores his obsessive secrecy and need for control over his life’s narrative, together with his willingness to hurt other people in order to maintain his version of events and preserve his image as the epitome of Victorian middle-class, family-centred morality and caring philanthropy. The three focus texts are linked by their respective depictions of Dickens’s intimate relationships with the different women in his life, by the parallels and differences between these texts and a range of biographies about Dickens, and by the different ways each author has engaged with the ethical considerations inherent in neo-Victorian biofiction’s reimaging of real historical figures from the nineteenth century. This thesis also links Girl in a Blue Dress to Victorian marriage law, Jack Maggs to questions of authorial ethics, stealing stories, and the development of copyright law, and Wanting to Dickens’s own perspectives on the colonial project, as demonstrated by his fiction and journalism.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractAFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In 1849 en 1860 het Charles Dickens al sy korrespondensie en dagboeke verbrand in 'n poging om te verhoed dat sy fiksie deur die lens van die skrywer se lewe gelees/geïnterpreteer word. Hierdie tesis ontleed drie neo-Victoriaanse biofiksies: Girl in a Blue Dress (2008) deur Gaynor Arnold; Jack Maggs (1997) deur Peter Carey; en Wanting (2008) deur Richard Flanagan, om die teenstrydigheid tussen Dickens se openbare persona en sy private lewe te verken; tesame met sy obsessiewe geheimhouding en behoefte aan beheer oor die publieke beskouwing van sy lewe; tesame met sy bereidwilligheid om ander mense seer te maak om sy weergawe van gebeure te behou en sy beeld te bewaar as die toonbeeld van Victoriaanse middelklas, gesinsgesentreerde moraliteit en sorgsame filantropie. Die drie fokustekste word verbind deur hul onderskeie uitbeeldings van Dickens se intieme verhoudings met die verskillende vroue in sy lewe; die parallelle en verskille tussen hierdie romans en 'n reeks biografieë oor Dickens, en deur die verskillende maniere waarop elke skrywer met die etiese oorwegings, inherent aan neo-Victoriaanse biofiksie se herbeelding van werklike historiese figure uit die negentiende eeu omgegaan het. Hierdie tesis verbind ook Girl in a Blue Dress met Victoriaanse huweliksreg; Jack Maggs met vrae oor skrywersetiek, diefstal van stories en die ontwikkeling van kopieregwetgewing; en Wanting met Dickens se eie perspektiewe aangaande die koloniale projek, soos uitgebeeld in sy fiksie en joernalistiek.af_ZA
dc.description.versionMastersen_ZA
dc.format.extent110 pagesen_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttps://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/130397
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherStellenbosch : Stellenbosch Universityen_ZA
dc.rights.holderStellenbosch Universityen_ZA
dc.subjectWanting, Gaynor Arnold, Peter Carey, Richard Flanaganen_ZA
dc.subject.lcsh Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870 -- Criticism and interpretationen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshEnglish fiction -- 19th century -- History and criticismen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshBiographical fiction, English -- History and criticismen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshNovelists, English -- 19th century -- Family relationshipsen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshSelf in literatureen_ZA
dc.subject.nameUCTD
dc.subject.otherNeo-Victorian biofictionen_ZA
dc.subject.otherGirl in a blue dressen_ZA
dc.subject.otherJack Maggsen_ZA
dc.subject.otherWantingen_ZA
dc.titleFictionalising Charles Dickens : his public and private lives in three Neo-Victorian biofictionsen_ZA
dc.typeThesisen_ZA
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