Download or read book The Imagination of Charles Dickens (RLE Dickens) written by A. O. J. Cockshut and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-05-13 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book describes Charles Dickens as an ordinary man who by being perfectly tuned to the public taste developed into a master of his art. The clue to this paradox lies, in the author’s opinion, in Dickens’ obsession with such topics as money, crowds and prisons which touch the life of everyone. From the deep fears of his childhood they became the main food for his imagination. As his creative mind worried over them, so his art developed. This process provided the driving force behind his work, and is at the root of his greatness as an artist.