Dickens's Secular Gospel

The first full-length study on the subject of Dickens and work, this book argues that, rather than engaging with work as an abstract, quasi-religious and entirely benign value, Dickens's writings demonstrate the varied ways in which it shapes gender identity and personality.

Chris Louttit is an Assistant Professor of British Literature at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands.

Abbreviations Acknowledgments Introduction: Dickens, Work, and the Victorians Chapter One: Work and the Shaping of Personality Chapter Two: Gendering the Laboring Body Chapter Three: Dickens and the Professions Chapter Four: Dickens and Domestic Management Chapter Five: Dickens's Idle Men Epilogue: Occupation, Disguise, and Personality in Dickens's Late Novels Notes Select Bibliography Index