The Mudfog Papers
The Mudfog Papers are an anthology of stories written by Charles Dickens and published from 1837 to 1838 in the monthly literary journal Bentley's Miscellany, which he was then editing.
Topics
The Mudfog Papers relates the proceedings of a fictional society, The Mudfog Society for the Advancement of Everything, a Pickwickian parody of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.[1][2] The latter, founded in York in 1831, was one of numerous Victorian learned societies dedicated to the advancement of science. Like The Pickwick Papers, The Mudfog Papers claims affinity with parliamentary reports, memoirs and posthumous papers. The serial was illustrated by George Cruikshank.
The fictional town of Mudfog was based on Chatham in Kent, where Dickens spent part of his youth. When Oliver Twist first appeared in Bentley's Miscellany in February 1837, Mudfog was described by Dickens as the town where Oliver was born and spent his early years, making Oliver Twist related to The Mudfog Papers, but this allusion was removed when the novel was published as a book.[3][4][5]
At the conclusion of his first contribution, about the mayor of the provincial town of Mudfog, Dickens explains that "this is the first time we have published any of our gleanings from this particular source", referring to The Mudfog Papers. He also suggests that "at some future period, we may venture to open the chronicles of Mudfog".[5]
The Papers was first published as a book under the title The Mudfog Papers and Other Sketches in 1880.[6]
Contents
- I. Public Life of Mr Tulrumble – Once Mayor of Mudfog
- II. Full Report of The First Meeting of The Mudfog Association for The Advancement of Everything
- III. Full Report of The Second Meeting of The Mudfog Association for The Advancement of Everything
- IV. The Pantomime of Life
- V. Some Particulars Concerning a Lion
- VI. Mr Robert Bolton: The "Gentleman Connected with the Press"
- VII. Familiar Epistle from a Parent to a Child Aged Two Years and Two Months
References
- ^ Rintoul, M C (1993). Dictionary of Real People and Places in Fiction. Taylor & Francis. p. 228. ISBN 0-415-05999-2.
- ^ "Feast of Science". I, Science at Imperial College. 14 February 2008. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
- ^ Dickens, Charles (2003). Horne, Philip (ed.). Oliver Twist, or, The Parish Boy's Progress. Penguin Classics. p. 486. ISBN 0-14-143974-2.
- ^ Ackroyd, Peter (1990). Dickens. Sinclair-Stevenson. p. 216. ISBN 1-85619-000-5.
- ^ a b Bentley's Miscellany, 1837
- ^ The Mudfog Papers and Other Sketches. London: Richard Bentley and Son, Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen, 1880.
External links
- The Mudfog Papers at Google Books
- Full text of The Mudfog Papers
- The Mudfog Papers on readeasily.com
- The Mudfog Papers on Project Gutenberg
- Mudfog and Other Sketches public domain audiobook at LibriVox
- Turn the pages of a digital copy of Mudfog Papers and Other Contributions. University of California
- Review of The Mudfog Papers in The New York Times of October 2, 1880
- v
- t
- e
- The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1836–1837)
- Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress (1837–1839)
- Nicholas Nickleby (1838–1839)
- The Old Curiosity Shop (1840–1841)
- Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty (1841)
- The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit (1843–1844)
- Dombey and Son (1846–1848)
- David Copperfield (1849–1850)
- Bleak House (1852–1853)
- Hard Times: For These Times (1854)
- Little Dorrit (1855–1857)
- A Tale of Two Cities (1859)
- Great Expectations (1860–1861)
- Our Mutual Friend (1864–1865)
- The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870)
- A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas (1843)
- The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In (1844)
- The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home (1845)
- The Battle of Life: A Love Story (1846)
- The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain, A Fancy for Christmas-Time (1848)
- To Be Read at Dusk (1852)
- "The Long Voyage" (1853)
- "The Signal-Man" (1866)
- "The Trial for Murder" (1865)
collections
- Sketches by "Boz," Illustrative of Every-day Life and Every-day People (1833–1836)
- The Mudfog Papers (1837–1838)
- Master Humphrey's Clock (1840–1841)
- American Notes for General Circulation (1842)
- Pictures from Italy (1846)
- The Life of Our Lord (1846–1849)
- A Child's History of England (1851–1853)
- The Uncommercial Traveller (1860–1861)
- Letters (1821–1870)
- The Frozen Deep (1856)
- No Thoroughfare (1867)
- Bentley's Miscellany (1836–1838)
- Master Humphrey's Clock (1840–1841)
- The Daily News (1846–1870)
- Household Words (1850–1859)
- All the Year Round (1859–1870)
- "A House to Let" (1858)
- "The Haunted House" (1859)
- "A Message from the Sea" (1860)
- "Mugby Junction" (1866)
- No Thoroughfare (1867)
Parents | |
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Brothers | |
Partners | |
Children |
- Epitaph of Charles Irving Thornton
- Bleak House
- Tavistock House
- Gads Hill Place
- Grip (raven)
- Dickens fair
- Dickens and Little Nell (statue)
- Charles Dickens in His Study (1859 painting)
- Dickens of London (1976 miniseries)
- Dickens in America (2005 documentary)
- The Invisible Woman (2013 film)
- Dickensian (2015 TV series)
- The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017 film)
- Category