Constructing the Geographical Imagination: The Dickensian as a Discourse

Abstract

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) is one of the most culturally significant writers in British history. From A Christmas Carol to Oliver Twist, his writings shape geographical imaginaries of social issues like poverty and child labour to such an extent, that the term ‘Dickensian’ has now become synonymous with poor social conditions. Despite the recent upsurge in references to Dickens and ‘Dickensian’ in the press and amongst policymakers, there has been almost no critical engagement with how the term is being used in the contemporary, how it has evolved or how it functions as a social critique. In response, this paper traces the shifting definition of ‘Dickensian’ over time and introduces the idea of the Dickensian as a discourse. It argues that as an assemblage of linguistic signs, symbols and practices, the Dickensian performs a specific reality of ‘the Victorian’ in the geographical imagination, one underscored by precarity. It is these precarious affects, this paper argues, which give the Dickensian such broad appeal in the contemporary and enable its functioning as a tool of social critique. By using discourse as a theoretical framework, this paper aims to further understandings of how literature and cultural forms more broadly, construct geographical knowledge and imaginaries.