SOURCE: "Critique of Materialism-Criticism: Hard Times," in Charles Dickens: His Tragedy and Triumph, Volume Two, Simon and Schuster, 1952, pp. 801-19.
Johnson is one of the most prominent Dickens scholars of the mid to late twentieth century, and his two-volume Charles Dickens: His Tragedy and Triumph (1952) is considered an essential text on Dickens and his work. In the excerpt below, he provides a detailed examination of Dickens's anti-Utilitarian stance in Hard Times, noting that the novel's final scenes "hold . . . the essence of his defense of art. "
This is a free excerpt of 90 words. There are 7,814 words (approx.
26 pages at 300 words per page) in the full critical essay.
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