How Charles Dickens Made the Novel New

Suppose Charles Dickens had died in 1850, at age 38—perhaps in a railway accident like the crash, in 1865, that killed 10 of his fellow passengers and left his nerves permanently frayed; or, more fantastically, from spontaneous combustion, as befell the booze-soaked rag seller in his 1853 novel, Bleak House.

He would still be famous, though perhaps less so than he is now. Readers left with only his early works would have eight full-length novels to savor, including , , and , as well as a tottering stack of novellas, stories, and travel writing. But our sense of Dickens, and the century that produced him, would be altered. We would notice his sentiment more, and his social mission less. His critical reputation would be less sturdy, and snobbish professors