Come along and join me in the next Dickens readalong.
We have chosen Martin Chuzzlewit which was originally published by Dickens in 19 instalments, all exactly 32 pages long!
I propose condensing this to an eight month read, using Dickens' shorter sections as a guide (this is one fewer than NN). We begin in August, as follows:
August - Chapters 1 - 8
September - Chapters 9-15
October - Chapters 16-23
November - Chapters 24-29
December - Chapters 30-35
January 2025 - Chapters 36-41
February - Chapters 42-47
and finishing in
March 2025 - Chapters 48 - end
This on its publication history is interesting:
The early monthly numbers were not as successful as Dickens's previous work and sold about 20,000 copies each, as compared to 40,000 to 50,000 for the monthly numbers of the Pickwick Papers and Nicholas Nickleby, and 60,000 to 70,000 for the weekly issues of The Old Curiosity Shop. The lack of success of the novel caused a rift between Dickens and his publishers when they invoked a penalty clause in his contract requiring him to pay back money they had lent him to cover their costs.
Dickens responded to the disappointing early sales of the monthly parts compared to sales of previous works as monthly instalments; he changed the plot to send the title character to the United States. This allowed the author to portray the United States, which he had visited in 1842, satirically, as a near-wilderness with pockets of civilisation filled with deceitful and self-promoting hucksters.
Dickens's satire of American modes and manners in the novel won him no friends on the other side of the Atlantic, where the instalments containing the offending chapters were greeted with a "frenzy of wrath". As a consequence Dickens received abusive mail and newspaper clippings from the United States
Summoning old faithfuls and newcomers, one and all!