Pete Orford
My research areas focus on Shakespeare, Dickens and the long nineteenth century.
My key interests in Shakespeare are his history plays and their representation in criticism and on the stage with relation to their structure and status as a continuous cycle or individual plays.
My work to date on Dickens includes the popular "Dickens on..." series for Hesperus Press, various papers on adaptations of "A Christmas Carol", and a consideration of Dickens's links to early science fiction. I am currently researching the many solutions to "The Mystery of Edwin Drood", considering the impact of these upon character as well as the broader context of what this endless fascination tells us about our own attitudes through the ages to Dickens and his works. You can see more about this at www.droodinquiry.com and www.cloisterhamtales.wordpress.com
In addition, I am also a leading expert on the nineteenth-century Irish writer Fitz-James O'Brien, a neglected author, early pioneer in science fiction, and all-round cad and bounder.
In 2012 and 2013 I was a lead blogger on two reading projects conducted via Dickens Journals Online reading project, a week-by-week reading of "A Tale of Two Cities" and "No Name" respectively. The work on readalong projects is continuing in 2014 with Edwin Drood (see above).
You can also follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrPeteOrford
My key interests in Shakespeare are his history plays and their representation in criticism and on the stage with relation to their structure and status as a continuous cycle or individual plays.
My work to date on Dickens includes the popular "Dickens on..." series for Hesperus Press, various papers on adaptations of "A Christmas Carol", and a consideration of Dickens's links to early science fiction. I am currently researching the many solutions to "The Mystery of Edwin Drood", considering the impact of these upon character as well as the broader context of what this endless fascination tells us about our own attitudes through the ages to Dickens and his works. You can see more about this at www.droodinquiry.com and www.cloisterhamtales.wordpress.com
In addition, I am also a leading expert on the nineteenth-century Irish writer Fitz-James O'Brien, a neglected author, early pioneer in science fiction, and all-round cad and bounder.
In 2012 and 2013 I was a lead blogger on two reading projects conducted via Dickens Journals Online reading project, a week-by-week reading of "A Tale of Two Cities" and "No Name" respectively. The work on readalong projects is continuing in 2014 with Edwin Drood (see above).
You can also follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrPeteOrford
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Books by Pete Orford
Dickens will forever be remembered as the champion of the poor. His works reached out to all classes, and he never lost sight of the many injustices occurring throughout society. This collection will showcase the plight of those in Victorian London who were not only poor in finance, but poor in spirit and poor in hope: it will demonstrate Dickens’s attitudes to the downcast and the destitute. His own father was sent to the debtor’s prison while Dickens was a child, and in this collection the reader will see Dickens’s accounts of subsequent walks through the debtor’s prisons, alongside his descriptions of tramps and the shabby-genteel. It will also include details of the support Dickens offered to the poor, not least in his support for the house of fallen women.
This work collects three of O'Briens most enduring stories - 'The Diamond Lens', 'What was it?' and 'The Wondersmith' - which showcase not only his skills as a writer of Gothic horror, but moreover can be explored as precursors of science fiction. In 'The Diamond Lens' a scientist discovers a microcosmic society in a single drop of water, the pursuit of which drives him further into insanity. 'What was It?' predates H. G. Well's tale of an invisible man, while 'The Wondersmith' is a rollicking melodrama with a mad scientist, beautiful maiden, lovesick hunchback and a horde of killer dolls.
Papers by Pete Orford
The analysis of the story itself will form around the protagonist John Jasper. The character will be examined as the culmination of Dickens’s villains with particular comparisons made to Bradley Headstone in Our Mutual Friend, Jonas Chuzzlewit in Martin Chuzzlewit and Oliver Twist’s Bill Sikes, whom Dickens had been performing in his public readings shortly before commencing work on Drood. I will also consider the increasing tendency, in the wake of wider awareness of Ellen Ternan, to view Dickens’s final protagonist as a dark reflection of the author himself, and will contrast this with Eve Sedgwick’s queer reading of Jasper’s desires. I will then consider the significance of Jasper’s role in the church and ask to what extent, as John Thacker suggested, the novel is a critique of organised religion. In the final part of this section I will then consider the book’s fascination with Orientalism and Exoticism, as famously argued by Howard Duffield, not only in the depiction of Jasper but also in the ambiguous ethnicity of the Landless twins and the impact this could have on our understanding of Dickens’s attitudes to race.
In the second section I will turn to the solutions themselves and how they have both interpreted the novel and, in the process, shaped our perceptions of the original text. To make sense of the many solutions I will divide them into four branches; the first being the early solutions of the 1870s and 1880s in which reverence for the author’s intentions was no concern next to capitalizing on a ready audience waiting for an end. The second stage moves on to the golden age of Droodism when academics and enthusiasts fought bitterly and passionately in press and person with pseudo-scientific approaches to the mystery, packaging Dickens’s story as a Holmesian whodunit deserving of a surprise ending befitting the great author. The third stage begins with the work of Edmund Wilson and Philip Collins in arguing that the novel is not a mystery at all, but rather a psychological drama about the guilty mind. Finally the fourth stage looks at how an increase in academic considerations of the book itself, in favour of predicting the end, has been met simultaneously by a resurgence of more irreverent solutions reminiscent of those from the 19th century, with Rupert Holmes’s Broadway musical that offers a multitude of solutions, or Gwyneth Hughes’s 2012 screenplay that deliberately did not try to write the ending that Dickens had planned. The position at which the chapter will close, and at which readers of Drood now find themselves, is where debate over the book’s ending continues to thrive and generate interest in this bewitching fragment of a novel.
The article first considers the role of Marley both as an agent of change alongside the other three spirits, which entails a consideration of Scrooge's experience as a paranormal course of cognitive behaviour therapy; the article then considers the narrative significance of Marley's ghost, in particular the depth of his relationship with Scrooge.
Although O’Brien’s name does not appear in the Household Words ledger, O’Brien’s claim led his biographer Francis Wolle to tentatively suggest three anonymous articles for consideration: the short story ‘An Arabian Nightmare’, and the poems ‘A Child’s Prayer’ and ‘An Abiding Dream’. With Wolle’s 1944 biography remaining as the most recent and detailed study of O’Brien’s life, succeeding enthusiasts have wholeheartedly accepted Wolle’s suggestions, with ‘An Arabian Nightmare’ in particular being widely accepted as O’Brien’s, and appearing on a number of e-texts as O’Brien’s work, without tangible proof.
The launch of the Dickens Journals Online project prompted a reinvestigation into these unattributed works and the potential for some, all or none of them being by O’Brien. This article, based upon a paper presented at the "Dickens and the Mid-Victorian Press" conference at the University of Buckingham, goes back to the root of this rumour in the obituaries of O’Brien in the New York Times, and the subsequent treatment of this claim by scholars. It readdresses Wolle’s suggestions with a critical eye, with authorship tests conducted on the articles in question to attempt to reach a more objective conclusion on their origin.
My contributions review the BBC's adaptations of Richard II and Henry V for the Hollow Crown, and the Balkan Trilogy at the Globe comprising of Henry VI Part One by the National Theatre Belgrade, Henry VI Part Two by the National Theatre of Albania, and Henry VI Part Three by the National Theatre of Bitola.
In Little Dorrit, Dickens uses the mystery and wonder of Venice that so beguiled him to form a physical representation of the dreamstate which the Dorrit family, especially William Dorrit, inhabit after their miraculous change in fortune. This article argues that the undertones of illusion as suggested through the location of Venice allow us to read William's changing mental state not as a descent into madness, but as an ascent into self-realisation and self-acceptance.
This article previously appeared in The Dickensian.
After a brief stint writing for the London journals, O’Brien moved to New York where he received great praise for his short stories and gothic tales; The Diamond Lens caused a literary stir on its first publication in 1858 and remains his most famous work. It details how the narrator becomes obsessed with fashioning the perfect microscope, resorting to contact with the dead through a medium, and the betrayal and murder of his friend to obtain the necessary diamond, before then becoming increasingly obsessed with the beautiful creature he discovers within the waterdrop. The story is celebrated today as a pioneering work of science fiction, and in so doing its spiritual nature is overlooked: here is a tale of the pursuit of Eden and the hellish methods one man will stoop to when trying to spy upon heaven.
This paper will explore the contrast of paradise and the real world within the story, linking this back in turn to O'Brien's own religious and moral outlook.
This article investigates the circumstances surrounding the three cycles Benson produced in 1901, 1905 and 1906, reporting on their reception and analysing the productions' direction and value. In doing so it also grapples with the controversy surrounding Benson who was upheld by the Stratford audience as a leading exponent of the bard, while simultaneously being criticised by the London and national press for uninspiring performances.
Dickens will forever be remembered as the champion of the poor. His works reached out to all classes, and he never lost sight of the many injustices occurring throughout society. This collection will showcase the plight of those in Victorian London who were not only poor in finance, but poor in spirit and poor in hope: it will demonstrate Dickens’s attitudes to the downcast and the destitute. His own father was sent to the debtor’s prison while Dickens was a child, and in this collection the reader will see Dickens’s accounts of subsequent walks through the debtor’s prisons, alongside his descriptions of tramps and the shabby-genteel. It will also include details of the support Dickens offered to the poor, not least in his support for the house of fallen women.
This work collects three of O'Briens most enduring stories - 'The Diamond Lens', 'What was it?' and 'The Wondersmith' - which showcase not only his skills as a writer of Gothic horror, but moreover can be explored as precursors of science fiction. In 'The Diamond Lens' a scientist discovers a microcosmic society in a single drop of water, the pursuit of which drives him further into insanity. 'What was It?' predates H. G. Well's tale of an invisible man, while 'The Wondersmith' is a rollicking melodrama with a mad scientist, beautiful maiden, lovesick hunchback and a horde of killer dolls.
The analysis of the story itself will form around the protagonist John Jasper. The character will be examined as the culmination of Dickens’s villains with particular comparisons made to Bradley Headstone in Our Mutual Friend, Jonas Chuzzlewit in Martin Chuzzlewit and Oliver Twist’s Bill Sikes, whom Dickens had been performing in his public readings shortly before commencing work on Drood. I will also consider the increasing tendency, in the wake of wider awareness of Ellen Ternan, to view Dickens’s final protagonist as a dark reflection of the author himself, and will contrast this with Eve Sedgwick’s queer reading of Jasper’s desires. I will then consider the significance of Jasper’s role in the church and ask to what extent, as John Thacker suggested, the novel is a critique of organised religion. In the final part of this section I will then consider the book’s fascination with Orientalism and Exoticism, as famously argued by Howard Duffield, not only in the depiction of Jasper but also in the ambiguous ethnicity of the Landless twins and the impact this could have on our understanding of Dickens’s attitudes to race.
In the second section I will turn to the solutions themselves and how they have both interpreted the novel and, in the process, shaped our perceptions of the original text. To make sense of the many solutions I will divide them into four branches; the first being the early solutions of the 1870s and 1880s in which reverence for the author’s intentions was no concern next to capitalizing on a ready audience waiting for an end. The second stage moves on to the golden age of Droodism when academics and enthusiasts fought bitterly and passionately in press and person with pseudo-scientific approaches to the mystery, packaging Dickens’s story as a Holmesian whodunit deserving of a surprise ending befitting the great author. The third stage begins with the work of Edmund Wilson and Philip Collins in arguing that the novel is not a mystery at all, but rather a psychological drama about the guilty mind. Finally the fourth stage looks at how an increase in academic considerations of the book itself, in favour of predicting the end, has been met simultaneously by a resurgence of more irreverent solutions reminiscent of those from the 19th century, with Rupert Holmes’s Broadway musical that offers a multitude of solutions, or Gwyneth Hughes’s 2012 screenplay that deliberately did not try to write the ending that Dickens had planned. The position at which the chapter will close, and at which readers of Drood now find themselves, is where debate over the book’s ending continues to thrive and generate interest in this bewitching fragment of a novel.
The article first considers the role of Marley both as an agent of change alongside the other three spirits, which entails a consideration of Scrooge's experience as a paranormal course of cognitive behaviour therapy; the article then considers the narrative significance of Marley's ghost, in particular the depth of his relationship with Scrooge.
Although O’Brien’s name does not appear in the Household Words ledger, O’Brien’s claim led his biographer Francis Wolle to tentatively suggest three anonymous articles for consideration: the short story ‘An Arabian Nightmare’, and the poems ‘A Child’s Prayer’ and ‘An Abiding Dream’. With Wolle’s 1944 biography remaining as the most recent and detailed study of O’Brien’s life, succeeding enthusiasts have wholeheartedly accepted Wolle’s suggestions, with ‘An Arabian Nightmare’ in particular being widely accepted as O’Brien’s, and appearing on a number of e-texts as O’Brien’s work, without tangible proof.
The launch of the Dickens Journals Online project prompted a reinvestigation into these unattributed works and the potential for some, all or none of them being by O’Brien. This article, based upon a paper presented at the "Dickens and the Mid-Victorian Press" conference at the University of Buckingham, goes back to the root of this rumour in the obituaries of O’Brien in the New York Times, and the subsequent treatment of this claim by scholars. It readdresses Wolle’s suggestions with a critical eye, with authorship tests conducted on the articles in question to attempt to reach a more objective conclusion on their origin.
My contributions review the BBC's adaptations of Richard II and Henry V for the Hollow Crown, and the Balkan Trilogy at the Globe comprising of Henry VI Part One by the National Theatre Belgrade, Henry VI Part Two by the National Theatre of Albania, and Henry VI Part Three by the National Theatre of Bitola.
In Little Dorrit, Dickens uses the mystery and wonder of Venice that so beguiled him to form a physical representation of the dreamstate which the Dorrit family, especially William Dorrit, inhabit after their miraculous change in fortune. This article argues that the undertones of illusion as suggested through the location of Venice allow us to read William's changing mental state not as a descent into madness, but as an ascent into self-realisation and self-acceptance.
This article previously appeared in The Dickensian.
After a brief stint writing for the London journals, O’Brien moved to New York where he received great praise for his short stories and gothic tales; The Diamond Lens caused a literary stir on its first publication in 1858 and remains his most famous work. It details how the narrator becomes obsessed with fashioning the perfect microscope, resorting to contact with the dead through a medium, and the betrayal and murder of his friend to obtain the necessary diamond, before then becoming increasingly obsessed with the beautiful creature he discovers within the waterdrop. The story is celebrated today as a pioneering work of science fiction, and in so doing its spiritual nature is overlooked: here is a tale of the pursuit of Eden and the hellish methods one man will stoop to when trying to spy upon heaven.
This paper will explore the contrast of paradise and the real world within the story, linking this back in turn to O'Brien's own religious and moral outlook.
This article investigates the circumstances surrounding the three cycles Benson produced in 1901, 1905 and 1906, reporting on their reception and analysing the productions' direction and value. In doing so it also grapples with the controversy surrounding Benson who was upheld by the Stratford audience as a leading exponent of the bard, while simultaneously being criticised by the London and national press for uninspiring performances.
See also:
http://www.academia.edu/770456/Rewriting_History_Exploring_the_Individuality_of_Shakespeares_history_plays
http://www.academia.edu/1684505/The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Hotspur_in_Henry_IV_Part_One
A critical history of the cycle shows how external factors such as patriotism, bardolatory, character-focused criticism and the editorial decision of the First Folio are responsible for the cycle, more so than any inherent aspects of the plays.
The performance history of the cycle charts the initial innovations made in the twentieth century which have affected our perception of characters and key scenes in the texts. I then argue how the cycle has become increasingly restrictive, lacking innovation and consequently undervaluing the potential of the histories.
Having accounted for the history of the cycle to date, the second part of my thesis looks at the consequent effects upon each history play, and details how each play can be performed and analysed individually.
I close my thesis with the suggestion that a compromise between individual and serial perceptions is warranted, where both ideas are acknowledged equally for their effects and defects. By broadening our ideas about these plays we can appreciate the dramatic potential locked within them.
See also:
http://www.academia.edu/1684505/The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Hotspur_in_Henry_IV_Part_One
http://www.academia.edu/688988/The_Ladys_Percy_Challenging_Expectations_of_Structure_and_Gender_in_Henry_the_Fourth
It will take time to consider how plot points such as bigamy, inconclusive murder attempts and the cat-and-mouse relationship between a clear villain and their cautious pursuer resurface in Desperate Remedies and Drood, but also how wider themes and approaches of Braddon can be argued to influence Dickens and Hardy, particularly in the portrayal of women. Ultimately by making this three-way comparison it will serve to identify common threads of the sensation genre, upon which ground the individual traits of the authors can then be better seen and understood.
Thus the variation in Drood solutions identify in turn the variation in perception of what a ‘Dickensian’ ending should be. This paper will argue that such attempts to define a Dickensian plot only serve to pigeonhole Dickens and his writing into a containable, predictable sequence; it is an approach born out of the unassailable quest to provide authority for solutions in the absence of the author himself, and ultimately results in limiting his work and denying our appreciation of his variety and innovation.
The matter is further complicated by Dickens’s passion for personifying objects, so that the abandoned watch becomes symbolic of Drood himself, and the finding of the one is almost tantamount to the finding of the other; evidence becomes the victim or aggressor, overlaying the inanimate with motive and emotion. Simultaneously Dickens explore the minimisation of characters to objects themselves: Rosa Bud, in particular, is contained and reduced to a portrait of a woman, not an individual but an item to be obtained and coveted by John Jasper. Thus the awkward meeting of the style of Dickens with the conventions of the mystery genre create this curious hybrid in which objects become witnesses and victims become objects.
For many years Drood studies constituted the bulk of Dickens scholarship at a time when Dickens himself was seen as inappropriate fodder for academia; in turn, subsequent scholars have been somewhat embarrassed by their predecessors boundless enthusiasm for “solving” the mystery, as a consequence of which, there is little discussion of the book outside of the solutions. Therefore if we are looking for responses and analysis of The Mystery of Edwin Drood we must mine the many sequels to see the text beneath the text; to see what they are telling us not as new endings, but as interpretations of Dickens’s original text. By doing this they cease to become repetitions of the same moment, but rather a sequence of evolving ideas through the years. In particular, Edwin’s uncle John Jasper has been re-imagined over time as a serial killer, reluctant murder, innocent man or a psychopath with multiple personalities. This paper will look at the fixation with completing Jasper and the impact of all these clones on our perception of the original.
See also:
www.droodinquiry.com
http://www.academia.edu/3685540/_Uncle_and_Nephew_are_words_prohibited_here_how_the_queer_family_can_be_murder_as_evidenced_in_the_Mystery_of_Edwin_Drood
http://www.academia.edu/2923098/Wheres_Edwin_Issues_of_style_and_place_in_continuations_of_The_Mystery_of_Edwin_Drood
http://www.academia.edu/3122092/Surveying_the_multi-drood_Appraising_the_early_sequels_spin-offs_and_solutions_to_the_Mystery_of_Edwin_Drood_1870-1878
http://www.academia.edu/2349598/Adaptation_invention_and_intrigue_The_Ongoing_Mystery_of_Edwin_Drood
This paper will evaluate how subsequent adaptations on page and screen have interpreted the Victorian era in Dickens’s novel, how inspiration has been taken in turn from other sources - such as The Moonstone, Crime and Punishment, Jekyll and Hyde and Sherlock Holmes – to authenticate the Victorianism of the piece with other contemporary models. In each case the issue facing the adaptor is whether to maintain the style of Dickens’s time or to adopt the contemporary fashion; whether in seeking continuity it is more important to connect to the original text or the current reader.
See also:
www.droodinquiry.com
http://www.academia.edu/3685515/A_multidrood_of_sins_the_repetition_and_reputation_of_John_Jasper
http://www.academia.edu/3685540/_Uncle_and_Nephew_are_words_prohibited_here_how_the_queer_family_can_be_murder_as_evidenced_in_the_Mystery_of_Edwin_Drood
http://www.academia.edu/3122092/Surveying_the_multi-drood_Appraising_the_early_sequels_spin-offs_and_solutions_to_the_Mystery_of_Edwin_Drood_1870-1878
http://www.academia.edu/2349598/Adaptation_invention_and_intrigue_The_Ongoing_Mystery_of_Edwin_Drood
My interest in the Drood phenomenon is not in finding a solution to Dickens’s story, but rather in examining all of those who strived to do so, and considering what that tells us about early attitudes to Dickens and his works. What has been hitherto overlooked is that in many cases the significance of solving Dickens’s story was equal to, or even less than, the opportunity to make money, and a number of the early continuations in particular were popular works with good sales figures. Moreover, criticism to date has focused purely upon the plots of these stories, perpetuating our emphasis upon solving the mystery, rather than considering other important factors such as the writing style, structure and the depiction of character in these stories as compared to the same in Dickens’s original.
This talk will focus on the responses before everyone got serious about Drood: a time when solutions were less interested in honouring Dickens intention and more concerned with writing an exciting ending or making a quick buck. It will cover the gloriously irreverent The Cloven Foot (1870), the more respectful John Jasper’s Secret (1871), the controversial Edwin Drood Completed (1874) reported to have been written by the ghost of Dickens via a medium and the monumental A Great Mystery Solved (1878). It will assess the different attitudes to Dickens displayed in each, as well as considering the merits of each as a work in its own right, rather than purely as a response to the unimitable.
See also:
www.droodinquiry.com
http://www.academia.edu/3685515/A_multidrood_of_sins_the_repetition_and_reputation_of_John_Jasper
http://www.academia.edu/3685540/_Uncle_and_Nephew_are_words_prohibited_here_how_the_queer_family_can_be_murder_as_evidenced_in_the_Mystery_of_Edwin_Drood
http://www.academia.edu/2923098/Wheres_Edwin_Issues_of_style_and_place_in_continuations_of_The_Mystery_of_Edwin_Drood
http://www.academia.edu/2349598/Adaptation_invention_and_intrigue_The_Ongoing_Mystery_of_Edwin_Drood
See also:
www.droodinquiry.com
http://www.academia.edu/3685515/A_multidrood_of_sins_the_repetition_and_reputation_of_John_Jasper
http://www.academia.edu/3685540/_Uncle_and_Nephew_are_words_prohibited_here_how_the_queer_family_can_be_murder_as_evidenced_in_the_Mystery_of_Edwin_Drood
http://www.academia.edu/2923098/Wheres_Edwin_Issues_of_style_and_place_in_continuations_of_The_Mystery_of_Edwin_Drood
http://www.academia.edu/3122092/Surveying_the_multi-drood_Appraising_the_early_sequels_spin-offs_and_solutions_to_the_Mystery_of_Edwin_Drood_1870-1878 "
As a result, the canon of Dickens’s works as presented to the modern child is limited to those for which it is felt there might be an appeal, most typically A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist and Great Expectations, either because of their supernatural elements or child protagonists, or indeed their success beyond the book as movies and musicals; in which case the preferred choice of these stories out of the Dickens catalogue for child-friendly edition serves to further strengthen their position as the most accessed, and accessible, stories by Dickens.
This paper will consider a selection of children’s editions of Dickens’s works, to assess to what extent they can be considered true representations of the original, and to further question the impact and implications of these editions on society’s understanding and appreciation of Dickens.
At the heart of Dickens’ preoccupation with this is the dynamic between the artifices of the theatre and the reality behind the scenes. The weltschmerz of the actor’s daily descent ‘to the comparatively un-wadded costume of every day life’, and of poor men masquerading as rich nobility on the stage was both a source of pathos for Dickens in his many speeches for the General Theatrical Fund, and a point of absurdity in sketches such as ‘Mrs Joseph Porter’ or Mr Wopsle’s ill-fated portrayal of Hamlet in Great Expectations.
This paper will also explore audience reaction to the grand displays and special effects in the theatre, particularly highlighted by Dickens through Mr Whelks, representative of the everyman in ‘The Amusements of the People’. By linking this in to Dickens’ championing elsewhere of focusing on text and meaning rather than fiercely-guarded stage traditions (particularly when portraying the characters of Shakespeare), the paper will close by not only addressing to what extent, as Dickens suggested, the opulence of these picturesque scenes can be justified when presenting a moral message in a palatable format, but also considering Dickens’ thoughts on whether the popularity of such means are indicative of an audience unable to visualise these tales for themselves through their own imagination.
Although O’Brien’s name does not appear in the Household Words ledger, O’Brien’s claim led his biographer Francis Wolle to tentatively suggest three anonymous articles for consideration: the short story ‘An Arabian Nightmare’, and the poems ‘A Child’s Prayer’ and ‘An Abiding Dream’. With Wolle’s 1944 biography remaining as the most recent and detailed study of O’Brien’s life, succeeding enthusiasts have wholeheartedly accepted Wolle’s suggestions, with ‘An Arabian Nightmare’ in particular being widely accepted as O’Brien’s, and appearing on a number of e-texts as O’Brien’s work, without tangible proof.
The launch of the Dickens Journals Online project prompts a reinvestigation into these unattributed works and the potential for some, all or none of them being by O’Brien. This paper will go back to the root of this rumour in the obituaries of O’Brien in the New York Times, and the subsequent treatment of this claim by scholars. It will readdress Wolle’s suggestions with a critical eye, with authorship tests conducted on the articles in question to attempt to reach a more objective conclusion on their origin.
In doing this it will also consider the significance of O’Brien’s involvement (or non-involvement) with Dickens – was O’Brien lying to use Dickens as cultural currency in the New World? Or did they have a genuine working relationship, and if so was the young writer’s work of merit to the journal, or was he one of the ‘Voluntary Correspondents’, with more enthusiasm than skill, of whom Dickens complained?
After a brief stint writing for the London journals, O’Brien moved to New York where he received great praise for his short stories and gothic tales; 'The Diamond Lens' caused a literary stir on its first publication in 1858 and remains his most famous work. It details how the narrator becomes obsessed with fashioning the perfect microscope, resorting to contact with the dead through a medium, and the betrayal and murder of his friend to obtain the necessary diamond, before then becoming increasingly obsessed with the beautiful creature he discovers within the waterdrop. The story is celebrated today as a pioneering work of science fiction, and in so doing its spiritual nature is overlooked: here is a tale of the pursuit of Eden and the hellish methods one man will stoop to when trying to spy upon heaven.
This paper will explore the contrast of paradise and the real world within the story and call into question how O’Brien’s own religious beliefs impacted on his writing; furthermore, this paper will take a wider view to examine how O‘Brien‘s portrayal of this subject compares with this contemporaries back in England to see how writing in the New World shaped his attitude to such themes.
This paper explores the juxtaposition inherent in the title of the history plays: the contrast between history and play; chronicle and drama. In doing so it asks the question: how does the immediacy of the dramatic experience function against the underlying cultural frame of the historical backdrop, and can the two be satisfactorily conveyed at the same time?
To explore this, the paper focuses on Henry VI Part Two 2.2, where York’s lengthy exposition of his genealogical background forcefully interjects meditation of the historical framework into the temporary moment of the drama. The paper asks to what degree, if at all, the historical background should be brought to the foreground; to what extent this emphasis on the deeper narrative overwhelms the transitory lives of the protagonists; and how this in turn impacts both on the dramatic experience and our immediate reception of the plays.
See also the published article based on this talk, listed in the 'Papers' section.