The life and adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit

The life and adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit

Charles Dickens, 1812-1870

Book - 1999

Set partly in America, which Dickens had visited in 1842, the novel includes a scaring satire on the United States. Martin Chuzzlewit, Sr., is surrounded by a greedy, grasping, selfish family: Anthony Chuzzlewit, his brother; the villainous Jonas, Anthony's son; and Seth Pecksniff, a crafty hypocrite. Detecting incipient selfishness and greed in his grandson, young Martin, Chuzzlewit turns him from the house almost penniless; Martin is in love with Mary Graham, an orphan raised by the old Chuzzlewit. Thus turned away, Martin travels to U.S. with his loyal friend and servant, Mark Tapley. Here he becomes an architect for the Eden Land Corporation, a fraudulent enterprise in which he loses everything. He contracts a fever and almost dies.... He returns home to England, cured of his selfishness by his difficult experiences in America, his grandfather accepts him, and he and Mary Graham are married. A subplot deals with Jonas Chuzzlewit, who tries to poison his old father, murders Montague Tigg because Tigg knows his secret, and marries Mercy Pecksniff, making her utterly miserable. He commits suicide to save his neck from the gallows. Sarah Gamp, one of Dicken's most memorable characters, appears in this novel.

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Subjects
British > United States > Fiction.
Grandfathers > Fiction.
Young men > Fiction.
Avarice > Fiction.
United States > Description and travel > Fiction.
England > Fiction.
Black humor (Literature)
Adventure fiction.
Bildungsromans.
Black humor.
Action and adventure fiction.
Novels.
Genres
Black humor (Literature)
Adventure fiction
Bildungsromans
Black humor
Action and adventure fiction
Novels
Published
London ; New York : Penguin Books 1999.
Language
English
Main Author
Charles Dickens, 1812-1870 (-)
Other Authors
Patricia Ingham (writer of introduction)
Physical Description
xxxiii, 825 pages : illustrations ; 20 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographies.
ISBN
9780140436143
  • Introduction
  • Note on the Text
  • Preface
  • Chapter II. ntroductory, Concerning the Pedigree of The Chuzzlewit Family
  • Chapter II. Wherein Certain Persons Are Presented to The Reader, with Whom He May, If He Please, Become Better Acquainted
  • Chapter III. In Which Certain Other Persons Are Introduced; On The Same Terms as in the Last Chapter
  • Chapter III. In Which Certain Other Persons Are Introduced; On The Same Terms as in the Last Chapter
  • Chapter VIII. Accompanies Mr. Pecksniff and His Charming Daughters to the City of London; and Relates What Fell Out, Upon Their Way Thither
  • Chapter IX. Town and Todgers's
  • Chapter X. Containing Strange Matter; on Which Many Events In This History, May, for Their Good or Evil Influence, Chiefly Depend
  • Chapter XI. Wherein a Certain Gentleman Becomes Particular In His Attentions to a Certain Lady; and More Coming Events Than One, Cast Their Shadows Before
  • Chapter XII. Will Be Seen in the Long Run, If Not in the Short One, To Concern Mr. Pinch and Others, Nearly. Mr. Pecksniff Asserts the Dignity of Outraged Virtue; And Young Martin Chuzzlewit Forms a Desperate Resolution
  • Chapter XIII. Showing, What Became of Martin and His Desperate Resolve, After He Left Mr. Pecksniff's House; What Persons He Encountered; What Anxieties He Suffered And What News He Heard
  • Chapter XIV. In Which Martin Bids Adieu to the Lady of His Love And Honors an Obscure Individual Whose Fortune He Intends to Make, by Commending Her to His Protection
  • Chapter XIV. In Which Martin Bids Adieu to the Lady of His Love And Honors an Obscure Individual Whose Fortune He Intends to Make, by Commending Her to His Protection
  • Chapter XIV. In Which Martin Bids Adieu to the Lady of His Love And Honors an Obscure Individual Whose Fortune He Intends to Make, by Commending Her to His Protection
  • Chapter XVIII. Does Business with the House of Anthony Chuzzlewit And Son, from Which One of the Partners Retires Unexpectedly
  • Chapter XIX. The Reader is Brought into Communication With Some Professional Persons, and Sheds a Tear Over The Filial Piety of Good Mr. Jonas
  • Chapter XIX. The Reader is Brought into Communication With Some Professional Persons, and Sheds a Tear Over The Filial Piety of Good Mr. Jonas
  • Chapter XXI. More American Experiences. Martin Takes a Partner And Makes a Purchase. Some Account of Eden, as It Appeared on Paper. Also of the British Lion. Also Of The Kind of Sympathy Professed and Entertained, By The Watertoast Association of United Sympathizers
  • Chapter XXII. From Which It Will Be Seen That Martin Became a Lion On His Own Account. Together with the Reason Why
  • Chapter XXII. From Which It Will Be Seen That Martin Became a Lion On His Own Account. Together with the Reason Why
  • Chapter XXII. From Which It Will Be Seen That Martin Became a Lion On His Own Account. Together with the Reason Why
  • Chapter XXV. Is in Part Professional; and Furnishes the Reader With Some Valuable Hints in Relation to The Management of a Sick Chamber
  • Chapter XXVI. An Unexpected Meeting, and a Promising Prospect
  • Chapter XXVII. Showing That Old Friends May Not Only Appear With New Faces, but in False Colours. That People Are Prone to Bite; and That Biters May Sometimes Be Bitten
  • Chapter XXVII. Showing That Old Friends May Not Only Appear With New Faces, but in False Colours. That People Are Prone to Bite; and That Biters May Sometimes Be Bitten
  • Chapter XXVII. Showing That Old Friends May Not Only Appear With New Faces, but in False Colours. That People Are Prone to Bite; and That Biters May Sometimes Be Bitten
  • Chapter XXXIV. In Which the Travellers Move Homeward, And Encounter Some Distinguished Characters Upon the Way
  • Chapter XXXV. Arriving in England, Martin Witnesses a Ceremony From Which He Derives the Cheering Information That He Has Not Been Forgotten in His Absence
  • Chapter XXXV. Arriving in England, Martin Witnesses a Ceremony From Which He Derives the Cheering Information That He Has Not Been Forgotten in His Absence
  • Chapter XXXVII. Tom Pinch, Going Astray, Finds That He is Not The Only Person in That Predicament. He Retaliates Upon a Fallen Foe
  • Chapter XXXVIII. Secret Service
  • Chapter XXXVIII. Secret Service
  • Chapter XL. The Pinches Make a New Acquaintance, and Have Fresh Occasion for Surprise and Wonder
  • Chapter XLI. Mr. Jonas and His Friend, Arriving at a Pleasant Understanding, Set Forth Upon an Enterprise
  • Chapter XLII. Continuation of the Enterprise of Mr. Jonas And His Friend
  • Chapter XLIII. Has an Influence on the Fortunes of Several People Mr. Pecksniff is Exhibited in the Plenitude of Power And Wields the Same with Fortitude and Magnanimity
  • Chapter XLIV. Further Continuation of the Enterprise of Mr. Jonas And His Friend
  • Chapter XLVI. n Which Tom Pinch and His Sister Take a Little Pleasure; but Quite in a Domestic Way, and with No Ceremony About It
  • Chapter XLVI. In Which Miss Pecksniff Makes Love, Mr. Jonas Makes Wrath, Mrs. Gamp Makes Tea, and Mr. Chuffey Makes Business
  • Chapter XLVII. Conclusion of the Enterprise of Mr. Jonas And His Friend
  • Chapter XLVIII. Bears Tidings of Martin, and of Mark, as Well As Of a Third Person Not Quite Unknown to the Reader Exhibits Filial Piety in an Ugly Aspect; and Casts ADoubtful Ray of Light Upon a Very Dark Place
  • Chapter XLVIII. Bears Tidings of Martin, and of Mark, as Well As Of a Third Person Not Quite Unknown to the Reader Exhibits Filial Piety in an Ugly Aspect; and Casts ADoubtful Ray of Light Upon a Very Dark Place
  • Chapter Xlviii. Bears Tidings of Martin, and of Mark, as Well As Of a Third Person Not Quite Unknown to the Reader Exhibits Filial Piety in an Ugly Aspect; and Casts ADoubtful Ray of Light Upon a Very Dark Place
  • Chapter XLVIII. Bears Tidings of Martin, and of Mark, as Well As Of a Third Person Not Quite Unknown to the Reader Exhibits Filial Piety in an Ugly Aspect; and Casts ADoubtful Ray of Light Upon a Very Dark Place
  • Chapter XLVIII. Bears Tidings of Martin, and of Mark, as Well As Of a Third Person Not Quite Unknown to the Reader Exhibits Filial Piety in an Ugly Aspect; and Casts ADoubtful Ray of Light Upon a Very Dark Place
  • Chapter XLVIII. Bears Tidings of Martin, and of Mark, as Well As Of a Third Person Not Quite Unknown to the Reader Exhibits Filial Piety in an Ugly Aspect; and Casts A Doubtful Ray of Light Upon a Very Dark Place
  • Chapter LIII. What John Westlock Said to Tom Pinch's Sister What Tom Pinch's Sister Said to John Westlock What Tom Pinch Said to Both of Them; and How They All Passed the Remainder of the Day
  • Chapter Liv. Gives the Author Great Concern. for It is the Last In the Book
  • Appendix A. Preface to the Cheap Edition (1850)
  • Preface to the Charles Dickens Edition (1867)
  • Postscript Added in 18681
  • Appendix B. Preliminaries and Number Plans
  • Explanatory Notes
Review by Choice Review

An unusual entry in a series that already includes such warhorses as Ulysses, Paradise Lost, the Iliad, and the Canterbury Tales. But Martin Chuzzlewit has a well-deserved reputation as one of Dickens's lesser works and Monod does little to dispel the reader's repugnance, however slight. One starts with admiration for a critic who has ``studied Dickens for several decades''; here we see the thoroughness and sensitivity that we are accustomed to find in his writings, as he works through the main facets of Martin Chuzzlewit. Chapter by chapter he handles such matters as the text, the machinery, the American episodes, Mrs. Gamp, crime and punishment, the pinches, and style and method. Monod is not completely admiring; he says that the hero never comes alive, he finds the figure of old Martin sadistic, and he is not satisfied with Jonas and the crime plot. Along the way, Monod quotes other critics and scholars, but one can hardly conclude that this is either a thorough, or balanced, presentation. This book is less satisfying than the comparable Norton Critical edition, which brings in whole critical commentaries from different years. The intended audience for the present book is not defined.-L.J. Clipper, Indiana University at South Bend

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.

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