Stewart investigates the fanciful impulse among Dickens's characters, their exchange of semblance for reality, their use of the imagination as a means of retaliating against the fallen Dickensian world.
Contents
Prologue: The parable of the "rosy wine" -- Quarantine of imagination: the Pickwickian reign. The Pickwick case: diagnosis ; Quarantine ; Release -- The refuge of imagination: a disinheriting. The pivotal swiveller ; Apollo and the naughty company ; Escape artists ; The golden bower of Our mutual friend.
