Cover; Title Page; Copyright Page; Dedication; Table of Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction Dickens's Evolving Critique of Financial Capitalism; Chapter One ""I hold myself released from such hard bargains as these"": Nicholas Nickleby and ""Brotherly"" Capitalism; Chapter Two ""With what astrange mastery it seized him for itself"": The Conversion of the Financier in A Christmas Carol; Chapter Three ""Terribly wild rang the panic cry"": Finance, Panic and the Struggle for Life in Little Dorrit
Chapter Four ""Among the dying and the dead"": Metonymy and Finance Capitalism in Our Mutual FriendConclusion; Notes; Works Cited; Index
Summary
This book explores the relationship between Dickens's novels and the financial system. Elements of Dickens's work form a critique of financial capitalism. This critique is rooted in the difference between use-value and exchange-value, and in the difference between productive circulations and mere accumulation. In a money-based society, exchange-value and accumulation dominate to the point where they infect even the most important and sacred relationships between parts of society and individuals. This study explores Dickens's critique from two very different points of view. The first
