2. Narrative

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we think about how Dickens plays with what narrative is and how it works, thinking in particular about the apparent contradiction between the beginning of Chapter 1 of the novel (where it appears the future is unknown) and Chapter 55 of the novel (where we are told that the whole of David Copperfield’s life has been leading up to this one point).

Course

In this course, Dr Alfie Bown (University of Manchester) explores Dickens’ 1849-50 novel David Copperfield. After a brief introduction that sets the novel in its historical context, we turn to some of the major themes of the novel, including how Dickens thinks about the linearity of narrative (does he know what’s going to happen or not?), his interest in autobiography, the use of comedy in the novel, his interest in the physicality of writing, and the use of character and characterisation in the novel, looking in particular at Steerforth.

Lecturer

Alfie Bown is Lecturer in Digital Media Culture and Technology at Royal Holloway, University of London. His principle research interests are in psychoanalysis, digital media, critical theory and videogames, though he has also published in nineteenth-century studies, film studies and medieval studies. He is author of The Playstation Dreamworld (2017) and In the Event of Laughter (2018) among other things. His most recent book is an edited collection of essays entitled Post-Memes: Seizing the Memes of Production (2019).